


i’m seeing stars (and they exist in your eyes)

by jjuniechu



Category: Cravity (Band), Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Character Development, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but also a fast burn bc minhee falls hard and fast and can’t get his shit together, i swear this was supposed to be a simple two-shot, lapslock, minhee is a chaotic gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjuniechu/pseuds/jjuniechu
Summary: minhee falls in love with a pretty crying stranger in the dead of the night, and slowly realises how much of a chaotic gay he is for said stranger.
Relationships: Cha Junho/Lee Eunsang, Ham Wonjin/Song Hyeongjun (past), Han Seungwoo/Kim Wooseok | Wooshin, Kang Minhee/Song Hyeongjun
Comments: 36
Kudos: 113





	1. kang minhee fell harder than i did when i tanked my gpa

**Author's Note:**

> a slow burn but fast burn minisong fic bc there aren’t enough of them in this community, which is a crime, i tell you. a crime! 
> 
> this is also simultaneously a “kang minhee appreciating every single little thing about song hyeongjun” fic, and i wrote the first chapter in literally one night, please send help.

minhee sometimes thinks stars shine in places you don’t always notice.

like the bottom of a half-empty water bottle when you shine a phone light underneath it, so the light disperses into different directions and creates a myriad of dancing lights that bounce off the walls and illuminates the burning loneliness minhee feels when he’s alone in his two-now-one-person dorm room on a particularly quiet school night.

but really, sometimes minhee thinks the only stars professor han sees are the ones so far up wooseok’s ass it comes out of his goddamn mouth -

no, _no_ , minhee mentally swallows and snaps himself back to sanity, the guilt creeping up his spine at the sudden rant against one of his favorite professors. 

as much as minhee wants to deflect responsibility on another party - god bless wooseok for his questionable slytherin upbringing - professor han wasn’t at fault at all, really. _really_. 

professor han seungwoo - aka minhee’s favorite person on this entire campus and his brother wooseok’s fiancé - called minhee up to his office and promptly sat the sophomore down without a word of greeting and quietly pushed the student’s recently submitted criminology paper towards him. 

“ _miniyah_ ,” seungwoo started slowly, the affectionate nickname he’d always used to simultaneously placate and scold minhee making the criminology student perk up from his post-deadline stupor. it was a nickname that minhee seldom heard as of late due to them mutually agreeing not to know each other in public in a poor attempt to hide their close relationship. 

“what is _this_?” 

minhee had glanced at his immaculate paper, and then back at his professor’s questioning look, and then back at his paper.

“my criminology paper that’s worth 40% of my grade?” minhee quipped. 

so long story short, seungwoo calmly and slowly explained that while minhee’s paper was near perfect - great deductions, unique perspectives, and an out-of-this-world method of problem solving - minhee was also going to _fail_ his fucking paper because his dumb tree ass wrote his paper on the _wrong case topic._

minhee was this close to having a panic attack right then and there in the middle of his brother-in-law’s office out of shock at his own carelessness, his heart catching onto his throat and his sudden inability to properly breathe making his head spin and his vision blur. 

he could barely remember what happened after, but he knew that seungwoo ended up essentially saying fuck it to student-teacher formality and went to securely wrap his arms around the shaking sophomore, whispering panicked reassurances to the younger boy while rubbing his back in comforting circles; the way he used to do so back home when helping wooseok deal with minhee’s sudden and unplanned panic attacks. 

“no, no, _miniyah_ , baby, please calm down. it’s okay. shh, shh, please don’t panic. let me finish speaking okay?”

professor han seungwoo had a special set of rules for his own classes that were well known throughout campus. while he was infamous for his “no extensions unless you’re halfway close to death, do it by the deadline or you fail” and “extra credit? i don't know her” work ethic, he was also highly respected for his perfectly legal, “underhanded” way of giving assistance to students who actually gave a shit while keeping slackers on their toes. 

his rules were set like this: as long as you submitted your assignments regularly, and on time, and had a positive class participation rate as well as attendance, you were permitted a chance to _resubmit_ your paper within the same day. it was a clever and - minhee might add - a very _slytherin_ way of dealing with latecomers and slackers who thought they could skip class or beg for extra credit while simultaneously helping out students who were struggling or needed extra time to beef up their paper. a quirk minhee was _sure_ the criminology professor picked up from a certain “woosatan”. 

thus, to minhee’s relief, he was allowed to resubmit his paper before the day went out. because seungwoo knew that minhee was a really, _really_ fucking smart kid, and a good student to boot.

and if minhee never skipped a single one of his classes - well - that was just an added bonus, really. 

and that is how minhee ends up dragging his feet across the hallway towards the dorms at 1AM in the morning, eyes bloodshot and hugging his laptop in his shaky twig arms. he’d barely made it on time with two minutes to spare, but he managed to submit the paper to seungwoo before the deadline and now all he wanted to do was just die on his bed and pass out until monday morning.

that was the plan at first. 

it's just that sometimes plans don’t usually work out the way you want them to. or in the way you least expect.

because instead of going straight to bed, minhee hears loud sniffling from three doors down and stops in his tracks, and against his better judgement, squints to investigate the source in the dark.

his vision is shit due to the dim lighting of the hallway, but he notices a tiny figure huddled up into a ball outside dorm room 827, and as minhee moves closer, the sniffling gets louder, and minhee isn’t aware he’s standing literally half a breath away from the mysterious crying person until the latter perks up and looks at minhee in surprise. 

minhee’s breath catches in his throat. 

crying really doesn’t look good on anyone, no matter how much k-dramas try to prove you otherwise, but this boy in front of him makes minhee question every romcom he’s watched in existence and wonder why leads don’t look as beautiful crying as the boy sitting in front of him. 

crying boy’s eyes were big and beautiful and watery, lips pouty and pink and a little chapped - minhee doesn’t know how he notices this, but all of a sudden everything in minhee’s vision seems amplified by the quadrillions - his curly hair damp and plastered against his forehead. and _shit_ , minhee must really be that sleep deprived to think that was even remotely attractive, but it is and minhee’s brain starts playing the windows startup sound for a hot second before getting his grip back on reality.

“why are you crying?”

minhee wants to crawl into a hole and _die_.

_why do i sound like an asshole every time i open my fucking mouth -_

the boy is still sniffling but - to minhee’s relief - his sobbing subsides drastically. maybe out of shock at minhee’s bluntness, maybe at the embarrassment of getting caught crying in the middle of the night by a random stranger, but minhee feels a little less guilty for coming off as such an ass. 

the curly-haired teen wheezes before angrily rubbing his tears away from his puffy-looking face with the sleeve of his sweater. minhee so badly wants to rub them away for him, more gently too, but stops his hands from doing anything that would warrant a harassment lawsuit. 

“my boyfriend broke up with me.” 

minhee swallows.

“oh.” 

the crying boy giggles at minhee’s one-worded response, and minhee tries not to smile. it’s a pretty, _pretty_ sound. it’s also a little forced, but it sounds a lot better than his hitched sobbing from just a second ago.

“i’m sorry,” minhee squats down in front of the teen, observing the way the other’s eyes watch his every move, like a curious deer in headlights, “but why aren’t you crying inside? roommate kicked you out?”

the boy sighs, and minhee tries not stare at the way his shoulders just go slack at the question.

“well...you see...my ex-boyfriend _is_ my roommate.”

_oh_. 

minhee stares at him in disbelief, information sinking in like a slow injection.

“that is...unfortunate,” minhee mutters. 

the boy giggles again, with a little more genuineness this time, and minhee thanks every deity out there that it’s past midnight and the pretty crying boy can’t see the redness on the tips of minhee’s ears.

that doesn’t stop the begging question though. 

“but why did he kick you out?” _your ex is a dick for kicking you out of your own fucking room_ , minhee wants to say, but doesn’t want to offend the pretty teen who might still be harboring feelings for his ex. he doesn’t notice the smaller boy humming at him curiously, lips quirking into a tiny smile at minhee’s badly hidden display of concern. 

“he didn’t kick me out,” pretty-crying-boy-who-was-no-longer-crying answers softly, now playing with the cuffs of his sweater paws, pulling onto a stray thread, “i just didn’t want to confront him about it yet. wonjin hyung’s not even inside anyway, he went to crash serim hyung’s room.”

the pretty poodle-haired boy sniffs one last time and leans against the wall, tilting his head slightly in minhee’s direction, a sad smile on his face. the moonlight beaming in from the window at the end of the corridor seems to shower the smaller boy like a gentle spotlight, and minhee just quietly stares in awe. with the unexpected welcome of the light, he notices how big and brown and glittery the smaller boy’s eyes were. like little specks of glitter dust in pools of milk chocolate. 

“then why are you still out here?” 

pretty boy’s lower lip quivers, and his eyes meet minhee’s own. minhee sees little, jewel-like tears forming at the corner of those brown orbs. 

“because i don’t wanna be alone in a place where i’m reminded of him.” 

_ah._

_i understand._

minhee does, he truly does. moving so far away from home, far away from his only family wooseok and his dongsaeng for the first time, was painful. he felt like a huge weight was suffocating him when he hugged his brother goodbye, when he breathed in the soon to disappear scent of his home, when he had to wipe the tears off his baby dongsaeng seongmin’s face as the younger boy promised to visit minhee during break through angry whiny wails. even when he was reassured that seungwoo would take care of him during his stay here, it just hurt whenever he thought of them, thought of how far away his family were from him, and counting the days off his calendar for when he could just go _home_. 

so minhee makes up his mind, right there and there, a decision that he hopes isn’t the byproduct of sleep deprivation and sudden emotional distress.

he reaches his hand out towards the boy, and blurts out:

“my name is kang minhee, and my room has an empty bed. so if you’d like, you can come crash at mine.” 

* * *

  
  


“absolutely _not_. who the fuck do you think you are? that’s so creepy you fucking tree -”

is what minhee was absolutely sure the boy was going to say (but maybe in much prettier words). so forgive him for being properly shocked when the pretty boy just smiles at him at the offer, and nods slowly, fluffy poodle hair bouncing as he did so. 

“t-thank you, if it’s not too much of a bother for you -”

so now minhee is just running around preparing pillows and a comforter for the smaller boy - who had cutely introduced himself as dance major & sophomore song hyeongjun, and minhee wants to write that name over and over again on his political science notes until his pen starts screaming from overuse - while hyeongjun hesitantly accepts the hoodie minhee offers him. minhee had fought very hard on that decision, seeing as how hyeongjun accidentally left his key inside his dorm room, but _especially_ when hyeongjun confessed that the sweater he was wearing belonged to his roommate’s. 

“i have a whole closet of his clothes...i should really start returning them back to him,” hyeongjun hums as he admits defeat, accepting the grey hoodie minhee had practically shoved into his waiting arms. 

“i could burn the one you’re wearing right now,” minhee says without thinking, and hyeongjun blinks at him in mild alarm. minhee’s voice of reason starts panicking, _ah fuck, now he’s done it. now hyeongjun is going to think he’s a serial killer and call the cops on him, what an ironic fate -_

“please don’t, i don’t want to pay him for it,” hyeongjun answers shyly, and minhee wants to tell his heart to shut the fuck up and stop beating so hard against his chest at the way hyeongjun hugs minhee’s hoodie to his chest, “it’s branded.” 

minhee scoffs, “it looks cheap.” 

hyeongjun returns that rebuttal with a cheeky quip, “yeah, I know.” 

silence befalls on them, but it’s not a painfully awkward one minhee is used to whenever he talks to someone and just shuts off because he doesn’t know what to say afterwards. he just continues setting up the bed for hyeongjun while the latter is left to change, a weird calm settling over the room as hyeongjun eventually reappears from the bathroom in his borrowed clothes. 

if minhee finds hyeongjun cute pratically drowning in his oversized grey hoodie, the hem falling comically below his knees like a dress, and baby soft hands practically swallowed up into the sleeves, minhee doesn’t say a fucking word, because he wants to _cherish_ the image of hyeongjun pouting while eyeing his floppy sweater paws, clearly put off by their massive difference in size. 

“seriously, minhee, how _tall_ are you even? you’re so big,” hyeongjun whines at him, mock angrily flapping his adorable little sweater paws. 

minhee wants to _coo_ so fucking badly, but all he does is anxiety-laughs as he stalks past the pouty teen to make them hot drinks, ignoring the hammering of his heart against his ribcage at the small, light patter of feet following behind him. like a puppy, he thinks. 

“what do you want to drink, hyeongjun?” minhee inquires, trying not to look at the other boy in fear of doing something stupid, like calling him cute. 

“i’ll have whatever you’re having,” hyeongjun hums.

minhee quirks an eyebrow at him. “i was going to say the same thing.” 

they end up having warmed milk with honey because minhee’s digestive system is a weak ass bitch, and after hyeongjun offers to wash the mugs clean, minhee turns off the lights and they both crawl into their respective beds, and _that_ is when the awkward silence kicks in. 

“good night, hyeongjun.”

“good night, minhee.” 

in a few moments, the dorm slowly goes radio silent, and minhee is tired. he really, truly is. he hasn’t slept well for the whole week, mostly due to deadlines and partially due to homesickness. he should be feeling the weight of his eyebags lull him into a deep, dead slumber and his body egging him to just pass out and never wake up ever again. he’s just so, _so_ exhausted. but all of a sudden, his mind is so awake and hyper aware of everything around him, _especially_ the other presence taking up the space in the bed beside his. 

the presence being the beautiful, very adorable sophomore sleeping barely meters away from him, and minhee can’t think about anything except for hyeongjun in his hoodie, _minhee’s_ hoodie, in _his_ room, his back facing away from minhee and his body curled up in a little ball beneath the sheets. 

minhee prides himself for his “immaculate” self control, but even he finds himself wavering when he hears a soft little gasp and a sob leave hyeongjun’s body - his crying prominent in the dead of the night - and all he wants to do is go over and wrap the crying boy in his arms and tell him that it’s going to be alright, that he’s going to be okay. 

“hyeongjun?” minhee calls out softly, and even in the darkness minhee can see hyeongjun freeze up, like he’s been caught, “you okay?” 

more sniffles, and a choked sob later, and minhee is ready to risk it all and just go over to the other teen’s side. but he has boundaries, and he knows that hyeongjun is probably feeling extremely vulnerable at the moment. and minhee is just too unequipped with the knowledge to deal with this properly without coming off as too forward or aggressive, so he just stays where he is. in bed, hearing hyeongjun suppress his cries into his pillow, unable to form a proper response. 

minhee waits, waits until the crying dies down and reduces to just sob-hiccups. 

he’s almost startled when he hears a voice call for him in the darkness. 

“m-minhee? are you still awake?”

minhee shoots up from the bed, “y-yeah. i am. do you want anything?”

there’s a long pause, and minhee hears a shuffling noise, and it’s hyeongjun turning over in his bed, and even in the dead of the night minhee can see the shiny tears in the other boy’s eyes, and for some reason, his heart _aches_. 

“um, don’t take this the wrong way. i just...is it okay if i sleep beside you?” 

minhee’s heart fucking SLAMS against his chest and he almost relapses from the incredulity of the request. he’s surprised he isn’t wheezing from hearing what he swore was his ears playing tricks on him. 

hyeongjun must have noticed the shocked silence, and quickly adds, “n-not on the same bed of course! that would be just...inappropriate and awkward. on my part especially. i can just sleep on the floor next to you. if that’s okay. i just want to be near someone -”

hyeongjun doesn’t get to finish his sentence before minhee straight up just books it and hauls his pillow and his comforter over and stomps his way to hyeongjun’s bed, and the younger sits up in alarm. 

“m-minhee! y-you don’t have to do that, i can just - ”

“shh, its okay,” minhee says breathlessly, their gazes meeting in the pitch-black darkness, and in the silence minhee can _sense_ hyeongjun watching him quietly as minhee fixes his makeshift bed on the floor next to him, “i’m not going to do anything to you. i’ll just be h-here. next to you. you don’t need to get up.” 

“you’re must be the nicest stranger i’ve ever met, minhee,” hyeongjun laments, and he hopes that that’s a smile on the dance major’s lips, because minhee shouldn’t be _feeling_ things from hearing a near-complete stranger call out his name so warmly like that, “and i trust you. you haven’t done anything questionable to me, and you’ve been so accommodating.”

“still, you shouldn’t trust strangers like that,” minhee rebukes, making himself as comfortable as he can on the floor, “i wasn’t expecting you to say yes so easily. what if i’d been a murderer? you would’ve been dead by now.” 

“but i’m not, am i?” hyeongjun answers dryly, “and no offence, but you’re not that scary.” 

“yes i am,” minhee finds himself pouting, “i’m 187cm and growing. i’m _terrifying_.” 

“you’re as terrifying as a giant maltese puppy,” hyeongjun laughs, and minhee’s heart _soars_. he’s lying faced away from the smaller boy, not wanting the latter to see the stupidest, most whipped smile on minhee’s face, his cheeks are aching from smiling too hard, but _fuck_ does he want to hear that pretty little laugh again.

“why are you even back so late? assignments should’ve been due this week,” hyeongjun inquires curiously, and for some reason he feels like he’s directly beside minhee instead of on the bed above him, and it’s driving minhee _insane_ at the thought, “and you were holding your laptop bag when you came in, so you clearly weren’t out partying.”

“impressive deduction skills, hyeongjun-ssi, you should be a detective,” minhee jokes, and he hears the other boy scoff and gently hit him with the edge of his comforter, before minhee eagerly recounts the story of the events that happened earlier - while partially traumatic, did serve as an interesting story to diverge to the other boy. minhee wishes he could see hyeongjun’s face to judge his reactions. 

and that was how they ended up spending the majority of their night. minhee and hyeongjun inquiring little things about each other, telling stories of the dumb shit they’ve done.

minhee learns that hyeongjun knows over 47 girl group choreographies, and he’d auditioned at a few entertainment companies and got accepted, but decided to pursue a proper dance education instead. he was from tongyeong, and while his satoori was mostly gone after living in seoul for so long, minhee couldn’t help but pick up on the way some of the the slang blended into hyeongjun’s words a little awkwardly. it was endearing. 

the rest of the night trickled by naturally, and minhee didn’t even notice himself breaking off a story mid-sentence, the gentle lull of sleep slowly overtaking him. and if he felt a delicate hand gently brush through his hair, stroking his head with featherlight touches, he didn’t comment on it. because this was just perfect. so perfect. nothing that could come out of his dumbass mouth was going to ruin this moment.

minhee sleeps peacefully that night for the first time in months, and he wishes it was like this every single night.

* * *

  
  


unfortunately, that all came to a standstill the same morning when minhee gets rudely awakened by the frantic rapping against his door at the asscrack of dawn. 

minhee stretches lazily from his position on the floor and winces at the crack of his back and the old-man popping of his joints. he was never sleeping on the floor again, cute boy be damned. 

while in the midst of getting up, minhee feels something soft on his head, and something in his throat constricts when he realises it’s hyeongjun’s hand on his head, and suddenly everything that happened last night punches him in the gut like an angry whirlwind.

he’d invited hyeongjun into his room.

he forced hyeongjun to wear _his_ hoodie.

he slept _next to hyeongjun_.

minhee wants to pull on his hair and _scream_ because _no_ , that was _not_ a fever dream last night. this was actually happening, oh my god he was going to have a _fucking stroke_. unsolicited panic runs through him remembering the shit he pulled last night, and he’s close to losing it until the hand in his hair strokes his scalp again, and suddenly the panic washes away like it never happened.

“minhee?” hyeongjun yawns, and the stroking stops abruptly, hand going slack against the mattress and minhee wants to kick himself for wanting more, “it’s so early...what’s wrong?” 

“someone’s at the door,” minhee replies, and hyeongjun bolts up from the bed.

the rapping intensifies and the duo can hear someone yelling from the other side of the door.

“hyeongjun? _hyeongjun?_ are you in there? please answer me! whoever’s in there you better be ready to throw hands if you hurt my hyeongjunnie! ohmygodohmygod hyung is gonna kill me -”

minhee kind of wants to let the person behind the door die, mostly because it’s the asscrack of dawn, and minhee likes to lie in until it’s past afternoon, and also because who the _fuck_ gave him the right to call hyeongjun “ _my_ hyeongjunnie”? 

“if you don’t open the door, he’ll probably try to break it, he’s a bit extreme like that.” minhee doesn’t ask why hyeongjun knows this but he doesn’t like paying for things he hasn’t broken (yet), so he grudgingly gets up and unlocks the door.

“what,” minhee deadpans, giving the best “fuck off” expression he can muster at the other person, who - like hyeongjun - is significantly shorter than minhee, messy greyish-pink hair, and thick salmon roe-looking lips that were drawn into a panicked grimace. 

“where’s hyeongjun? are you keeping him hostage? i swear to god if you did anything to him -”

“i let him crash in my room,” minhee firmly cuts him off, already more annoyed than he usually is in the mornings, “and if you don’t shut up you’re going to wake up the entire campus.” _dipshit_ , minhee adds mentally. 

pink-haired boy ignores him and attempts to tiptoe over minhee’s larger frame, peeking over his wide shoulders to find the other boy, and if minhee subtly moves to the side in order to hide hyeongjun from his peripheral, the other doesn’t comment on it. 

the grimace on pink-haired boy visibly relaxes, and sweet relief washes over his face, and minhee knows it means hyeongjun has gotten up and is standing right behind him. 

“hyeongjunnie, i -”

“we need to talk,” minhee’s eyes widen and he turns to the smaller boy, still in minhee’s hoodie (minhee puffs with pride at that), holding his ex-boyfriend’s sweater in his arms, “wonjin hyung.” 

_wonjin_... _isn’t he the guy who made hyeongjun cry?_ minhee eyes this “wonjin” up and down, and decides right there and there; that the second he finds this dude in an empty alleyway, he’s going to neck him. 

“y-yeah, we do,” wonjin stutters, flushing, and minhee notices this guy’s stare sharpening as they travel up and down hyeongjun’s body, eyes widening when he realises hyeongjun wearing something that _definitely_ doesn’t belong to either him or hyeongjun. 

“minhee,” minhee snaps back at the sound of hyeongjun’s voice, in the soft, breathy little whisper that is stupidly addictive, “thank you for letting me stay the night.” 

“i-it’s no problem...hyeongjun,” minhee tries to look at anywhere that’s not hyeongjun, who suddenly looks so much smaller and cuter now with his ridiculous bedhead, puffy eyes and hoodie sliding precariously off his pretty pale shoulder. it’s _illegal_. minhee balls his fists. 

“i’ll return your hoodie as soon as i wash it,” hyeongjun responds shyly, his eyes meeting minhee’s own, and they look so much more luminescent under the morning sunlight, and minhee falls, falls so _hard_ for them.

_you can keep it for as long as you like, it looks good on you_.

“i-i’m sorry?” 

minhee blinks slowly, realizing that he spoke his thoughts aloud, and hyeongjun’s cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink, puppy brown eyes widening at minhee’s confession. minhee swears he can feel wonjin turn to look at him incredulously as if to say, “ _what_?” 

“uh.” came minhee’s unintelligible reply.

wonjin coughs behind him and minhee’s reflexes respond too slowly as the pink-haired boy walks past him to grab onto an equally shocked hyeongjun’s arm, and gently drags the smaller boy to the door. 

“we’ll drop off your clothes tomorrow,” wonjin says, a little awkwardly, not meeting the giant in the eye, “thank you for er, giving hyeongjun a place to sleep.” 

minhee nods dumbly, eyes fixed onto hyeongjun’s retreating back. he notices that hyeongjun’s ears are a little red at the tips, but dismisses it as a figment of his imagination.

minhee just stands there stupidly even after the two shut the door behind him, even after he hears wonjin yelling at hyeongjun “who the hell was that guy?” and hyeongjun spluttering. its only when the door three rooms down suddenly slams shut before minhee allows his legs finally give out on him, and he presses his forehead against the wall and heaves a sigh.

and then he _screeches_. 

* * *

  
  


just as promised, minhee only decides to leave his room after he’s completely degenerated, binging bad netflix shows while stuffing his face full of milk tea ice-cream, wallowing in self-pity as he loudly complains how stupid the entire plot of riverdale season 3 is. 

he does eventually find his hoodie on his doorstep the very next day, wrapped in plastic and packed neatly inside a paper bag.

he tries not to react when he sees a note inside the pocket of his hoodie, tries not to feel a bit of hope at hyeongjun’s cute little handwriting, _thank you for lending me your clothes, but i think they fit you better! :)_ along with a fucky little drawing of a poodle at the corner. it looks stupid. it’s endearing. it’s so _hyeongjun_ , and minhee pockets the note into a manila folder, where he keeps all of his photographs and memorabilia from back home. 

and if he fangirls in his bed barely seconds after - heart fluttering and squealing into his pillow like a pre-teen twilight fan while hugging the recently returned hoodie in his arms, inhaling in the soothing, honey lemon scent of hyeongjun that somehow managed to stick onto his hoodie - then _well_ , that’s nobody’s business besides his own, really.

hyeongjun doesn’t hate him for saying all that dumb shit, and minhee is _over the fucking moon._

he sleeps well again that night.

* * *

it doesn’t take very long for minhee to encounter the puppy-like sophomore again.

it’s like he’s suddenly opened his eyes to a whole new world that he’s never encountered before. suddenly, hyeongjun is _everywhere_. he’s in his 8AM poli sci class, which is the most out-of-character subject minhee expects hyeongjun to take. he assumed the other boy would take something from the liberal arts courses, considering his major, or psychology. but that’s okay, because minhee gets to longingly stare (like a fucking _creeper_ ) at the back of hyeongjun’s head as the poodle-haired boy tries not to doze off in the middle of the lecture.

hyeongjun doesn’t notice him, minhee hopes. professor bae yoon jung uses the card tapping system for attendance and minhee’s always at the back due to his tree-like height. hyeongjun sits somewhere in the middle, flocked by a stoic-looking boy who looks suspiciously like that one INFINITE member and another red-haired, cutie-faced boy who’s nudging hyeongjun to _wake the fuck up_ , _professor bae is glaring at you again._

hyeongjun also apparently dances in the same corridor minhee walks past on mondays on his way back from criminal justice class. minhee never notices the clubs that perform at the corridors considering he’s consistently plugged out from the world, earbuds shoved so deep into his ear canals he’s surprised he isn’t going deaf yet, listening to some foreign language audio on loop. 

so on that day when minhee spots that familiar head of poodle-like hair in the corridor, he decides to stop and linger behind some spectators. 

“let’s get it, hyeongjun-ah!”

“hangyul you’re so sexy~”

“seungyoun oppa!” 

the air is charged with energy and the heavy thrum of hip hop music blares through the mini bluetooth speaker on the floor, and minhee watches intently as hyeongjun and two other guys break out into some practiced choreography, and the crowd goes _wild_. minhee doesn’t know the name of the track, it sounds a bit like they’re saying “ _umjigyeo_ ” but he finds himself subconsciously nodding to the beat in the midst of the cheering crowd.

minhee’s _fascinated_. fascinated at the way hyeongjun’s cutesy demeanor changes before he can even blink, and boy can that kid _snap_. his moves are delicate and sharp, yet somehow making the intense choreo look easier than it shuold, and minhee can’t take his eyes off at the sharp jut of hyeongjun’s chin, his puppy-like eyes charged with intent, like he’s seducing the audience and minhee with his dance. its a side minhee doesn’t expect to see from the soft, vulnerable crying boy from two nights ago, and he feels himself falling harder and harder than he already has for the pretty dance major.

he leaves right before they finish, and hopes hyeongjun doesn’t notice his presence. 

minhee later sees him at the campus cafe where he works part-time at. he’s checking the cash register for change before ducking behind the counter the second he spots the adorable poodle-haired boy walking in, surrounded by his noisy group of equally adorable-looking friends (as well as that annoying whatshisname ex), and some other guys who minhee swearsare seniors.

“seungyoun hyung, you’re treating me today right~?” 

“dongpyo-ah, don’t you have your own money?” 

“but _hyuuuung_ , bubble tea tastes so much better when you buy it for me~.”

“hey yohan, isn’t taekwondo practice in like...ten minutes?” 

“ah shi -”

“language!” 

“allen, you, of all people, do not get to say that.” 

“you gonna fight me on that serim?” 

“hyeongjunnie, what do you want to eat? hyung will get it for you~.”

seo woobin, the only other staff on duty - and probably the only other person minhee is comfortable talking to on a friendly basis - just looks at the giant boy in fond amusement.

“minhee-ah, your body is too big to hide behind the cash register,” woobin points out.

“ _hyung_ ,” minhee whines in embarrassment, woobin’s voice travelling louder than it should be, and he can promptly hear the group’s conversation quieten.

minhee craves death. 

“come on, get up, you baby,” woobin shakes his head and grabs onto minhee’s shoulders and hauls him up, and minhee’s face heats up so fast it makes him dizzy. he instantly shys his body away from the group in a vain attempt to avoid eye contact.

“you’re acting really weirdly today, are you okay?” woobin takes off his glove and presses his hand against the flushing giant’s forehead, and the older man raises his eyebrow in concern, “minhee-ah, you’re burning up.”

_no i’m not, i’m just gay and dumb_ , minhee brushes the older man off and bows in apology. 

“i-it’s nothing hyung, don’t worry, b-but can you help me take their ord -”

“minhee, is that you?” 

minhee seizes up, and slowly, rigidly, turns around, and he tells himself to _breathe_ when he meets the inquiring, curious gaze of one song hyeongjun. the boy’s eyes are wide, his cheeks no longer tear-stained, and the dance major looks considerably more presentable and well-rested than when minhee last saw him. which also means that minhee can now appreciate the full beauty and adorableness of the poodle-haired sophomore in his basic white shirt, black sweatpants and alice hairband exposing his pretty (what) forehead. minhee bites his lip. 

_shit._

  
  
  
  



	2. kang minhee & friendship: what a concept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> minhee has a lot of feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a two-shot fic but i ended up creating a monster and not wanting it to end this quickly, so now this is going to be a really, really slow/fast burn fic (bc while minhee gay, minhee also a useless gay).
> 
> also there is N O S M U T in this fic minisong are minors i will neck anyone who sexualises them ya hear me 👁 👄 👁 🔪

“h-hey, hyeongjun.” _god minhee you’re such a fucking pussy why are you like this -_

“i didn’t know you work here!” and that _damned_ smile of hyeongjun’s appears again, and _god_ . minhee is whipped, so _goddamn_ whipped for that smile, “you look really cute in your uniform, i love your ears!”

minhee puffs his chest out with pride at that. he considers the bear motif apron and ear headband the cringiest thing he’s ever worn - but if hyeongjun thinks it's cute, then he can probably tolerate it. 

he can hear woobin snickering behind him and going, “ooh, so _this_ is why you’re being so weird today.” 

_hyung why is your voice so goddamn loud all the time -_

“y-yeah, i do shifts three times a week. can’t afford to look this good all the time, y’know?” minhee jokes, and it falls so flat that it isn’t even remotely funny. hyeongjun stares at him blankly, and one of the smaller boys in hyeongjun’s clique - the one with dark hair and big pouty lips - slaps his forehead and groans. minhee coughs and averts his eyes, and grabs a notepad and a pen, “s-sorry, may i take your order?” 

hyeongjun rattles off his order a little awkwardly, and minhee pretends to write it all down despite the fact that he practically has an eidetic memory. 

in all truthfulness, he’s just way too chicken shit to look at hyeongjun properly in the eye. _a coward you are, kang minhee_. “alright, we’ll bring your order to your table, thank you!” and as soon as hyeongjun leaves, minhee spins around and glares at woobin, “hyung, can you -”

“oopsy daisy, gotta go refill the napkins, you can handle this right, my adorable little dongsaeng?” woobin cuts him off, not even giving minhee a chance to reply before he books it out of there to - apparently - refill a _half-full_ dispenser of napkins. 

minhee’s spitting in his coffee the next time he sees him.

admitting defeat, he quickly fills out the orders for 8 drinks and cakes and with shaky, trembling hands, carries the tray over to the noisy group. he notices hyeongjun perk up from his conversation with the facepalming boy and immediately look up when he spots minhee walking towards them. he looks like he’s about to ask if minhee needs any help when one of his friends - a handsome, orange-haired teen with a sunny, charismatic smile that unironically blinds minhee - stands up and reaches out towards minhee instead. 

“hey, you okay? here, let me take that off of you,” charming-boy-whose-smile-was-easily-second-to-hyeongjun’s offers genially, and minhee’s ears burn when said boy casually wraps his warm, large hands around minhee’s own - before carefully taking the tray of snacks away from him. minhee’s so fucking embarrased that he doesn’t even notice hyeongjun frowning at his friend, and instead focuses on allen and seungyoun, who are already roasting the shit out said sunny boy.

“you are so fucking shameless, serim, i swear to fuck,” allen snorts. 

“don’t be so hard on him, allen-ah, he flirts with any pretty thing that walks,” seungyoun adds, and the group roars at serim’s splutter of denial and minhee’s mortification at being called _pretty_. 

_him_ ? _pretty_ ? when there was a whole ass _song hyeongjun_ right in front of them??? 

minhee feels his introvertedness kick in out of nowhere, and he wants to run away, but he’s too terrified to move, especially when the facepalming boy who - by method of elimination and deduction - assuming to be “dongpyo”, eyes minhee up and down like he’s a bug he wants to squash. 

“aren’t you kang minhee from 201 biology?” he asks, delicate eyebrow raised. 

this boy is shorter than even _hyeongjun_ , and yet minhee feels like he’s being put under a criminal interrogation. except instead of it being a “good cop, bad cop” situation, it’s just one “very bad cop” who happens to be barely 5’7” and is fucking _intimidating_. 

“y-yes?” minhee responds uncertainly. 

hyeongjun’s head snaps at dongpyo. 

“pyo, you know minhee?” 

dongpyo scoffs, “know him? hyeongjunnie, he was the speaker representative during freshman orientation. the only student who managed to receive the _one_ no-cost scholarship to this school. the _crème de la crème_ of the cohort. you’d know if you weren’t _sleeping_ during orientation.” 

“whew, for real?” the one who minhee easily identifies as hangyul - one of the hyungs who danced with hyeongjun earlier - whistles appreciatively, “that’s amazing kid, you must have worked hard to get that scholarship. i barely scraped by to get my own dance scholarship.” 

minhee smiles a little at that, cheeks reddening a little further at the genuinely sincere compliment hangyul gave him. it wasn’t easy getting the scholarship, especially for such a highly competitive college and major. he had given up all hopes of buddening friendships or clubs or messing around in high school for the sake of getting the _damned_ scholarship. it was day in, day out, study, eat, bathe, study, sleep. rinse and repeat. 

he remembers the way wooseok constantly nagged at him, reminding him that it was _okay_ if minhee couldn’t get the scholarship, that wooseok had saved enough money to pay for minhee’s college tuition, and that it was okay for him to _rest_ and have _fun_ and be the “shitty little teenager” that he was supposed to be. 

but then minhee recalls the fated day when wooseok came back home and confidently announced that he’d quit school to focus on finding work, precisely one week after their parents passed away. he loses count of the amount of times wooseok would completely pass out on their shared bunk bed after working long hours at the modelling agency, before getting up again two hours later to leave for his night shift at the convenience store (where he met seungwoo, but that was a story for another time). 

he thinks back to every time he’s accidentally caught wooseok quietly breaking down from the stress, from the bitterness of having to quit his hard-earned education at his prestigious uni, from his inner emotional turmoil of not being competent enough raise minhee properly without the proper finances. minhee has never confronted wooseok about it, knowing that just like minhee, wooseok was prideful to the point that the mere thought of someone seeing him _crumble_ \- family or not - was astronomically _humiliating_ to him. so minhee did the best that he could as wooseok’s younger brother - study, study, study while emotionally supporting wooseok from the sidelines by _not_ complaining and _not_ making things worse for his already exhausted older brother. 

and then seungwoo came into the picture, with his big heart and big smile. with his abundance of love and affection and support for not just his boyfriend wooseok, but for minhee as well. and while back then the shitty situation was still relatively shitty; with seungwoo around, it did get significantly a _lot_ easier to deal with, and it had made wooseok considerably less stressed throughout the entire ordeal. 

minhee genuinely feels like he owes it to both wooseok _and_ seungwoo - the latter for not abandoning wooseok and minhee when the going got tough. for supporting them when they needed money. for being there when minhee had his first panic attack after dropping from the top 3 rankings during midterms. for giving minhee free tutoring so he could ace his exams. for celebrating with them when wooseok got his first big break in modelling. for basically acting as the surrogate father and emotional lifeline minhee and wooseok needed to get through that rough patch in their life. 

which was why minhee was so _insistent_ on getting the cost-free scholarship, joys of teenagehood be damned. he _wanted_ to earn his education on his own. he didn’t want to keep relying on wooseok and seungwoo anymore. and now that he got it, all he really wanted was to make them _proud_ \- 

“minhee-ah, your smile is so cute~” seungyoun coos, cutting minhee out of his reverie. 

“aigooo, come here, i want to pinch your cheeks,” the one with bunny teeth that minhee assumes is “yohan” squeals, making grabby hands at the tall barista, and hangyul nudges at the other boy exasperatedly. 

“yohannie, please stop trying to coddle every cute thing you see.” 

“but hangyulie! didn’t you see his smile? it looked like the ‘:]’ emoji! that’s _adorable_ ,” yohan fangirls, and minhee suddenly wants to shy away from them, despite the laughter bubbling up in his throat at the group’s chaotic energy.

“hey, what about me!” dongpyo pouts at yohan, and yohan reaches over to pinch the younger’s cheeks. “aww dongpyo-ah, don’t be jealous. i’ll pinch your cheeks anytime you’d like. you and hyeongjunnie have the best cheeks after all~” 

“never mind, you’re cringe,” dongpyo huffs, to yohan’s despair, and turns his attention back to minhee, who straightens up at the small boy’s icy stare. 

“so...you’re the guy who slept with jjunie that night, right?”

minhee chokes, hyeongjun almost yeets himself off the goddamn chair, and everyone else at the table gawks at minhee accusingly. except wonjin, who’s just sending the giant teen a pitying look, as if to say, _good luck trying to justify_ **_that_ ** _to 5 other overprotective hyungs_.

minhee still doesn’t fucking like him.

“i’m sorry, but what the fuck did you do to our jjunie?” allen stares minhee down menacingly, and minhee silently wonders why all the shorties he meets are so motherfucking scary - except for hyeongjun of course, “you better have a fucking good explanation for taking advantage of our maknae -”

“i-it wasn’t like that, hyung!” hyeongjun protests, his cheeks turning that pretty shade of pink that minhee thinks is a very appealing color on him, “i left my key in the dorm, and minhee found me outside and offered me a spare bed to sleep on. that’s all!”

hyeongjun looks up at minhee, fluttering his little eyelashes at him, and _holy fuck_ minhee is so, so fucking gay. 

“right, minhee?”

“y-yeah, right. we weren’t doing...whatever you’re all thinking of,” minhee agrees quickly, and everyone’s shoulders sag in relief. except for dongpyo, who’s _still_ glaring at him with suspicion. it’s as if he can actually _see_ through minhee’s “hidden intentions” or whatever. 

minhee’s a little offended, seriously. while he may be a little insensitive, and acts before he thinks, he doubts he’s even half as sketchy as dongpyo makes him out to be in his head. did dongpyo really think that minhee was going to take advantage of hyeongjun while he was at his most vulnerable? no. but the thought of holding hyeongjun’s hand, hugging him, petting him while he’s sitting on minhee’s lap were nice options to think about, so - 

okay yeah, so maybe minhee _did_ have some hidden intentions. but at least he didn’t act upon them! that was what mattered! what kind of a monster would he be to take advantage of an emotionally vulnerable ball of sunshine like hyeongjun? that’s right, he wasn’t!

“right. whatever.” dongpyo hums, and to minhee’s relief, decides to drop the subject matter altogether. barely even seconds later, minhee ends up getting ignored in favor of a story of how hangyul almost murdered a guy who stalked yohan home some nights ago. and with that, he sneakily makes his grand escape, and almost gets back to the counter before a little tug on his sleeve stops him in his tracks. 

“hey, minhee,” hyeongjun pulls his sleeve shyly, and _ohnononohishandsweresocuteandtiny_ ,“a-are you free anytime soon?”

minhee checks the clock, and tries not to frown at the hours left on his shift, “no, i get off at 7. why?” 

hyeongjun instantly lets go of minhee’s sleeve and backs up defensively, cute pink lips drawn into a panicked “oh” and god, he gets cuter and cuter every passing second. 

“i didn’t mean _now_ , but still, thank you for letting me know,” hyeongjun smiles, “i was just wondering...as a thank you, for - y’know - giving me a place to sleep and being so nice and everything. i wanna make it up to you. maybe treat you to dinner?”

“o-oh no, you don’t have to,” minhee starts off, and the little nagging voice in his head starts screaming at him, telling him: _you fucking idiot, he’s asking you out, and it’s free fucking food. are you stupid or are you STUPID?_ “but, that being said. dinner _does_ sound nice. i-i’d like that. i’m getting a little tired of eating cheese ramyeon every day.” 

hyeongjun beams, he fucking _beams_ at him, and minhee already feels his daily dose of seratonin kicking into his veins like a flu shot. but then the dance major frowns, and minhee is ready to throw hands at whoever put that expression on his squishy little face.

“miniyah, that’s not good for you,” hyeongjun scolds, eyes furrowing in concern, and _did he just give minhee an affectionate nickname? fuck._ “ramyeon _every_ night? you’ll die from diabetes, if not from stress! that’s it. what do you like to eat?” 

minhee instantly lists out every food item he can think off. he’s not really that picky. he just wants to see where this is going, and hyeongjun nods before breaking out into a smug grin.

“alright! i’m going to make you a nice, home-cooked dinner and you’re going to _love_ it,” hyeongjun announces, and minhee almost loses the feeling in his legs at that offer because oh my god??? a home-cooked dinner made by the cutest boy in the entire world? _yes_ ? _Y E S????_

“what’s your schedule like? i’ll buy all the ingredients, so don’t worry about the money. we can book the communal kitchen ahead of time so nobody uses it,” hyeongjun rattles off on the details, giving minhee options on the courses, and it honestly feels like minhee’s ordering off a restaurant menu instead - which he really hasn’t done in a long time, all things considering. 

“we can eat dinner at my place,” minhee offers - sorry, _confirms_ \- not really eager to have dinner in the communal dining room surrounded by the prying eyes of other students, or in the space where hyeongjun’s ex breathed in. he doesn’t think he can withstand the idea of being in a room where hyeongjun and wonjin probably cuddled and kissed and shared intimate and personal moments in. hyeongjun catches onto the idea and nods, face breaking into an elated grin.

“great! that settles it. it’s a date then!”

_hahaha a date hahahaha wait -_ **_hold up_ **.

minhee freezes, his brain shutting down at the declaration and the multiple voices in his head simultaneously starting to malfunction after fully processing the magnitude of hyeongjun’s words. hyeongjun himself looks a little concerned by minhee’s reaction before he mentally replays his words, and his eyes widen dramatically and he starts waving his hands around like a frightened chicken.

“a platonic date, of course! as friends, _friends_ ,” hyeongjun emphasizes, and the pink on his cheeks instantly turns scarlet red, and minhee tries not to think about how much it makes his face look like a giant tomato. 

“y-yeah, as friends,” minhee breathes sharply, brushing away the little prickling pang of disappointment. 

and with that clarified, the misunderstanding between them sizzles out quickly, and hyeongjun is looking at him all sunny and eager and _pretty, pretty, pretty_ again.

“i-i’ll see you saturday then,” hyeongjun says breathily, the scarlet red in his cheeks reduced to a heady pink flush, and minhee is tempted to reach out and pinch those cheeks just to see if it feels as mochi-like as his brain thinks it is. 

“y-yeah, see you,” minhee smiles back at him, and hyeongjun nods, blinking in surprise, as if he wasn’t expecting a smile out of the taller boy (did he really not smile that often? he would have to change that). hyeongjun instantly turns heel and panic jogs back to his table - like a schoolgirl who just confessed to her crush. _cute._

minhee finds himself giddily skipping back to the counter, ignoring the teasing coos and laughter from the table at hyeongjun’s expense. and woobin - that fucking traitor - spontaneously pops up from behind the counter with an expression that essentially screams “how did it go?” 

the doped out smile on minhee’s face says it all, and when woobin starts rattling off a million different questions a minute, minhee doesn’t have the heart to ignore him because he’s on _cloud 9_.

for the first time in his entire life, minhee wishes the week could pass by just a _tiny_ bit quicker.

he ends up spending the rest of his shift smiling like a fucking idiot.

_(and terrifying the shit out of woobin in the process.)_

  
  


* * *

  
  


“you look different.”

minhee tilts his head in confusion.

“hyung, i look the same as always.”

“baby, i’ve seen your mug for almost 20 years. i think i can tell when you look a little different.”

“ok boomer.”

“the _fuck_ did you just call me -”

minhee was currently cosied up in seungwoo’s cushy little living room, located in a one-person apartment slightly off-campus. said criminology professor was cooking dinner in the kitchen, the savoury smell of ginger stir-fried pork permeating sharply in the air. minhee’s secondhand biology textbook sat on his lap, pen in one hand and highlighter in the other. his laptop was propped on top of the coffee table, his skype displaying a laggy, half decent video image of wooseok.

“anyway, how’s school going?” wooseok asks non-committedly, the handsome man himself occupied with smooching the life out of little ddadda, their adopted puppy, “you don’t look like you just passed out in a ditch somewhere, so _something_ good must have happened.” 

something good? yeah, if you called meeting hyeongjun a good thing, then yes. minhee finds himself subconsciously grinning as he lazily writes the hangul of hyeongjun’s name in the corner of his notes. 

“something _really_ good, then,” wooseok teases, and minhee dreads the tone in his brother’s voice. it’s the “aww my little brother is finally growing up that’s cute i’m going to bully him now” tone. 

“i made a friend, that’s all,” minhee casually admits, corner of his mouth curling into a satisfied smile at the thought.

in all honesty though, were they even _friends_ ? hyeongjun seemed so nice and lovely to him, but it also seemed like he was nice to _everyone_ \- 

“oh~?” 

minhee rolls his eyes at wooseok and hopes his hyung manages to catch it.

“ _no_ hyung, i’m not in love or anything,” minhee retorts, ignoring how his heart skips a beat at the denial. 

_you are such a fucking shitty liar kang minhee you’re a weak bitch for song hyeongjun just admit it and go,_ his heart sasses him. 

“minhee-ah, you can tell hyung anything, you know that right? _especially_ if you’ve got a crush on someone. is it a boy or a girl? hyung won’t judge~”

“don’t tease, seokie,” seungwoo calls out, and minhee’s eyes flutter shut at the succulent aroma of ginger and spice hitting his nostrils. his body rises off his side of the couch as seungwoo plops down next to him, setting down their plates of ginger pork, rice and kimchi onto the coffee table, “you’re such a bully sometimes.”

“that’s because you never let me have any fun,” the model whines, and minhee can practically _hear_ his brother pout from across the screen. 

“you have enough fun when you’re with me,” seungwoo replies succinctly, iconic snoopy smile on his face, and minhee doesn’t even need to look up from his textbook to know that wooseok is already getting _visibly_ flustered by his fiancé’s innuendo. 

you’d think that being together for two years would make his brothers (soon, anyway) be a little less gross, but apparently not. they somehow managed to be even _more_ sappy and romantic as the years went by and the fact that seungwoo was away teaching was _definitely_ not helping wooseok’s attachment issues. 

“back to the point, i overheard you saying that you made a friend?” seungwoo removes minhee’s textbook from his lap and replaces it with his dinner. minhee digs in without a moment’s hesitation and almost _cries_ at how good it tastes. god bless his soon-to-be brother-in-law for knowing how to cook.

“not a friend, but a _crush_ ,” wooseok singsongs, and minhee chokes on a piece of kimchi.

seungwoo rubs minhee’s back gently while the student hits his chest in pain, wheezing. the older man shoots his fiancé an unimpressed look.

“wooseokie, _really_?” 

“what? you know how much our baby likes to undersell things. it’s like that time when he called home saying he was feeling ‘a little under the weather’ when in reality he was actually having a fucking _panic attack_ ,” wooseok retorts with no bite to his words, and yet minhee still glances up towards the ceiling in an attempt to avoid his brother’s accusatory jab. 

“that’s true,” seungwoo admits, and minhee shoots his mentor a betrayed look. why was he constantly surrounded by traitors these days? 

“don’t look at me like that, miniyah. you know it’s true,” seungwoo laughs, reaching over to ruffle the younger boy’s hair, “so anyway. who’s the lucky boy? or girl?”

“pfft, as if we have anything but gays running in our family,” wooseok scoffs, hugging a struggling ddadda - said puppy desperately trying to get away from his clingy owner’s onslaught of kisses (minhee relates painfully to this, godspeed to you, ddadda), “but...if it’s a girl, hyung won’t judge, okay? i’ll support and accept you regardless whether you’re straight or not. just give me some time to accept it -”

“thanks, but you know i’m not into girls, so you don’t have to worry about it, hyung,” minhee deadpans, and resumes gobbling down his meal. he’s about halfway done when he notices the silent anticipation hanging in the air, and comes to a realization that no one was going to talk until minhee dropped the _name_ of said mystery friend. 

“his name is hyeongjun,” minhee mumbles in between mouthfuls, and wooseok squeals in glee. 

“hyeongjun-ah, hyeongjunnie, jjunie~! snoopy hyung, which nickname sounds better for my future brother-in-law?” wooseok singsongs and minhee valiantly tries to hide his face behind his plate. seungwoo just looks to minhee in surprise. 

“are you referring to dance sophomore song hyeongjun?” seungwoo inquires, and minhee stares at his professor in bewilderment. did _everyone_ know about the poodle-haired boy except for him? shit, was he the _last_ to know? seungwoo himself could barely remember half of the names in minhee’s class. the fact that the professor knew of someone _outside_ of the classes he taught was a feat on its own.

“hyung, you know him?” 

seungwoo hums in confirmation, resting his chopsticks against the corner of his plate, “he conjured quite a stir when he admitted here. there were a lot of rumors flying around that he was secretly an SM trainee. plus, he’s dongpyo’s friend.”

“dongpyo?” minhee drawls out uneasily, remembering the sassy, sharp-tongued boy from the café.

“oh, you know dongpyo?” 

“yeah, i met him during my shift,” minhee stirs around the leftover meat on his plate, “i don’t think he likes me very much. he accused me of sleeping with hyeongjun and i almost got my ass beat.” 

“did you though?” wooseok demands, “because if you did, i hope you wore protection.”

minhee splutters, “ _hyung_. no. god. no. what the hell.” 

seungwoo chuckles and sets down his plate, arm wrapping easily around the giant boy’s shoulders. minhee instinctively relaxes under the comforting weight, silently appreciating the sudden bout of affection, “sounds like him. i bet you he didn’t like seeing hyeongjun get so friendly with you.”

minhee eyes his hyung wearily, “hyung, how are you so familiar with this guy?” _and why would he be so concerned about his friendship with hyeongjun?_

“dongpyo likes occupying all of my office hours to consult me about the materials discussed during lectures. he’s always going: ‘professor han, why does law x only apply for this case, why can’t we do it this way instead?’ and then he forgets about the consultation and just goes off about how overly friendly his friend hyeongjun is,” seungwoo explains, smiling at the memory, and minhee can feel a pinprick of annoyance biting his skin at his hyung’s besotted reaction. _what the hell, seungwoo hyung was_ **_his_ ** _hyung, not dongpyo’s -_

“according to pyo, people have been approaching hyeongjun since the start of freshman year and asking him out. hyeongjun’s too shy to turn anyone down, so dongpyo does it for him in his stead. he constantly vents about the amount of people he has to reject for hyeongjun every week. it’s quite amusing.”

minhee feels his heart plummet hearing all of this. so it _was_ true. hyeongjun really was just being polite to him. his treatment of minhee wasn’t anything special. he was just another stranger that hyeongjun couldn’t help being nice too. in fact, he bet the dinner was all just a formality hyeongjun wanted to get over and done with - 

minhee bites his lip, and casually brushes seungwoo’s arm off of him. 

“i’m getting seconds,” minhee mutters, standing up. he grabs his plate and quickly stumbles into the kitchen, the sinking feeling in his stomach growing bigger by the second, a sensation that was definitely _not_ indigestion.

“hyung...you moron,” minhee can hear wooseok sigh deeply from the other room. 

he’d only known the dance major for a few days, but he was _convinced_ that there was something special between them. a spark. an instant _connection_ . apparently not, he guessed. how could he be someone special to hyeongjun when the other literally had people flocking to him like bees to honey? he could have _anyone_ , what reason would he have to treat minhee any differently? 

in fact, he was probably back together with wonjin already, minhee broods, dumping the dishes in the sink. he should just be grateful that someone like hyeongjun would even bother to associate with a weirdo like him at all.

he ignores the dull pain in his chest at that admission, and physically slaps his face repeatedly in an attempt to shake his mind out of his stupor. 

_its okay. that’s fine. i’m okay with just being near him. being friends is more than enough for me_. 

he convinces himself of this. imprints it so deeply into his skin and hopes his heart doesn’t fight him on this decision. because he doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle his hopes being crushed over something that simply didn’t even exist in the first place. 

hyeongjun has everyone in his heart, and minhee doesn’t think he’s going to find a place there anytime soon.

  
  


* * *

  
  


minhee spends the rest of the week avoiding hyeongjun.

he takes the long way round to classes so he doesn’t accidentally bump into hyeongjun when he’s dancing in the corridor. he avoids the café hyeongjun & gang frequent like it’s the plague. and on days where he has shifts at said café, he makes sure woobin doesn’t abandon him like last time and coerces the other staff member to serve their group as an apology for leaving minhee to the wolves the first time round.

woobin (it must be fate that minhee ends up with him as his shift partner _every single time_ ) doesn’t put up much a fight on this - oddly enough - his usual gag-like retorts falling flat at the sight of his dongsaeng’s desperate expression. he briefly makes a passing comment on how minhee’s smile felt like a lie after seeing the emotional state the younger student was in now and minhee simply brushes the older staff member off with a tired smile and reassures him that it's nothing. 

he makes sure he’s completely holed up in the library when he’s not in classes, and only gets back to the dorms after 1AM so he doesn’t accidentally run into the smaller boy. he’s never seen hyeongjun in a library before, so he knows that it’s his safe place. for now, anyway. 

that being said. in the midst of avoiding hyeongjun, he manages to run into _every other person_ in hyeongjun’s friendship circle in return. it’s an ironic twist of fate, to be honest. minhee doesn’t know whether to feel intimidated or touched that they actually remember him from their last encounter, but it's an interesting change of pace - even if he feels a little overwhelmed by the sudden attention.

he bumps into hangyul while the older boy is running back to practice. hangyul sees the taller boy and breaks into an infectious grin, and asks what kind of song minhee is listening to. his smile turns into a gawk of horror when minhee reveals that it’s an english learning audio, and minhee gets a good laugh at hangyul’s reaction before exchanging byes as hangyul jogs back to practice.

minhee gets accosted by seungyoun the very next day in the midst of carrying a box of tapes to the school’s recording room. the extroverted, catlike senior spots him and instantly engages minhee for some wanted assistance with his portfolio. he lets minhee listen to some of the tracks he’s helped produced - insisting on hearing a “second opinion” - and minhee is in _love_. 

with seungyoun’s music. not seungyoun, _obviously_. 

seungyoun is thoroughly amused by minhee’s awed fascination, and the music production major ends up sending the younger boy a link to his spotify albums. minhee instantly adds all of his senior’s songs to his playlist on the spot without hesitation. it’s good studying music, the psych major thinks approvingly. the elder ruffles the taller boy’s hair affectionately and buys him chicken feet from the cafeteria as a thank you in return.

_(stream pool by woodz for good grades, y’all.)_

he runs into yohan, allen and serim at the library - which was oddly packed, much to minhee’s annoyance - later during the day, and the bunny-like yohan excitedly waves minhee over to join their little study group. minhee had been a little apprehensive at first, but gives in when serim moves over and pats the seat next to him - but not without shooting the sophomore one of his flirtatious little smiles that minhee is already immune to.

he’s surprised when allen stares at him dead in the eye and apologizes for his accusation on monday, admitting that he jumped the gun regarding hyeongjun a little too quickly, and that he hoped the younger student didn’t take his threat to heart at all. 

and while minhee still finds the group of junior boys a little intimidating, the intimidation dies away fairly quickly when allen eagerly pulls minhee into a heated discussion on psychology theories after finding out the younger’s major - much to the other two boys’ chargrin. they’ve probably had the same discussion with allen too many times to count and are probably horrified at the thought of another overly-passionate mini-allen (ha, good meme) joining their group. 

minhee has never been invited to a study group before - he _was_ the top student back in high school after all. and he doesn’t know whether study groups are supposed to be this unproductive - what with allen constantly picking verbal fights, serim flirting and yohan being yohan - but he’s had a _surprising_ amount of fun with it so far. _even_ with yohan constantly poking his cheeks in fascination and nicknaming him “a cute tree” and serim being _awfully_ transparent and unsubtle about “getting to know minhee better”, he’s genuinely enjoying himself in the company of the older boys, and is a little disappointed when they get up to leave for club activities. 

( _they exchange numbers after, and promise to inform minhee on more study group dates, and minhee walks back to the dorms with a little more pep to his step at the three new numbers on his growing contacts list.)_

on thursday, minhee’s public affairs professor lee dongwook decides to split the class up for group discussions, and the psych major ends up being paired up with wonjin - of _all people_ \- as well as the two boys who sat with hyeongjun during poli sci. 

he learns their names were eunsang and junho, and that they were apparently one of the most iconic sophomore couples on campus. minhee also learns that the pair were also one of the most grossly, _disgustingly_ touchy couples on campus, and he has an oddly interesting time bonding with wonjin over mocking the sophomore couple’s excessive PDA. 

heck, they could give his own seungwoo and wooseok hyung a run for their money with the amount of pet names that were thrown around during the entire discussion.

he forgets the fact that they were supposed to be discussing pubic affairs - too humored by this chaotic group dynamic - until wonjin nudges him in the ribs while the other two get distracted in a competition over who could out-compliment the other without turning red (eunsang was currently winning). 

“hey, about the other day…” minhee quirks an iconic eyebrow at wonjin’s line of questioning, the other boy running his hand through his hair sheepishly, “you know, back at the dorm.”

_ah_ , the dislike he has for wonjin comes back in full force, and minhee’s stare hardens. he was probably going to tell minhee that he and hyeongjun were back together again despite how hard he made the younger boy cry that night - 

“i just wanted to say...thank you. for giving hyeongjun a place to sleep. and for giving him a shoulder to cry on. you didn’t have to, but you did anyway,” wonjin says quietly, not wanting the others to hear. minhee blinks in surprise, not expecting to hear words of gratitude coming out from the older’s mouth. 

“hyeongjunnie told me about everything that night. i know we got off on the wrong foot, and you probably don’t think very highly of me after what happened, but i just wanted to thank you. for being there for hyeongjun, and for not kicking my face in when i almost broke your door down,” wonjin flashes him an awkward smile, and _shit_ , why is he making it so hard for minhee to hate his guts? 

“i...hurt him a lot that night, and i got unjustifiably upset with him afterwards. i ended up saying a lot of stuff that i didn’t mean, and i was sure he was never going to talk to me again. i wasn’t expecting him to confront me about it - hyeongjunnie isn’t exactly the confrontational type, you know - so i was really surprised when he initiated the discussion first. whether you unintentionally pushed him to that decision or not, i’ll never know. but...we’re good now. so….thank you. again.” 

minhee stiffly nods, not really knowing what to say. 

his view of wonjin is still relatively skewed. but, he admits, he dislikes the older boy a _little_ less now. after all, it’s difficult to hate someone who's just so honest and self-aware of their own actions, and was completely unapologetic when it came to owning up to said actions. 

“also,” wonjin coughs, averting his eyes away from minhee’s intense gaze, “not that this is in any way related whatsoever, but hyeongjun is single now. very. _very_ much single.” 

wonjin is suddenly minhee’s second most favorite person on campus. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


his final encounter with a member of hyeongjun’s social circle isn’t as pleasant as the earlier instances, yet it's the one with the most unexpected plot development. 

the event occurs on a friday afternoon bio lecture, where a late son dongpyo slides into the seat next to minhee’s after finding every other row full. minhee instantly feels himself stiffen when the pouty-lipped boy grudgingly plops down next to him with a disdainful huff.

“seriously, you’d think less people would sit in the front fucking row,” dongpyo murmurs to himself, quiet enough not to catch the attention of the professor, but still loud enough for minhee to hear him. 

minhee rolls his eyes and decides to ignore the smaller boy for the entirety of the lecture. dongpyo seems to express the same sentiment, and they peacefully pretend like the other didn’t even exist while taking down notes and paying attention to the lecture - as they should be, of course. 

that really should have been the case, except minhee is _constantly_ catching dongpyo in the act of shooting him mistrustful glares every now and then, and it is seriously messing with his concentration. it’s up until the professor asks a question, and minhee’s hand shoots up on pure reflex to answer it does everything come to an impasse. 

“of course, mr. scholarship student just _has_ to show off, acting like he’s better than everyone else,” dongpyo mutters after the psych major gives a perfect model answer, and seriously. minhee has _had it_ up to here with dongpyo’s passive-aggressive **_bullshit_**.

“okay seriously, what is your fucking problem?” minhee hisses quietly, startling dongpyo. 

minhee holds back a smug grin at the pouty-faced teen’s reaction, feeling a little vindictive for managing to put an expression that wasn’t haughtiness or distrust on the smaller boy’s face. 

dongpyo’s startled expression doesn’t last very long, and it swiftly snaps back to the look of aloof hostility he had when they first confronted each other at the café. minhee would commend on the smaller boy’s impeccable control over his facial features, except he was being _too fucking insufferable_ for minhee to say anything nice about him. 

“nothing, i just don’t know why you have to act like such a know-it-all all the time,” dongpyo sniffs, and god, minhee has never wanted to strangle someone this tiny _so badly_ in his entire life, “like yeah, we get it, you can study _. chill_. you act like it’s your only personality trait.” 

“it’s not about that and you know it,” minhee bites back, desperately trying to reign in his temper, “if it’s about me or hyeongjun or whatever i rather you just spit it out instead of being so passive-aggressive about it and dancing around the topic.”

“ _fine_. yeah. i _do_ have a fucking problem with you and hyeongjun,” and minhee internally squashes down his satisfaction at the flash of anger that passes through dongpyo’s face, “seriously, do you know how fucking pathetic you look pining after hyeongjun like some desperate little puppy? he’s talked to you for like...what. a grand five minutes in total? get over yourself. he’ll never be interested in **_someone like you_** _.”_

minhee feels all of his insecurities rush back into him in full force, hearing the three words that always echoed in his skull and made him constantly self-doubt his inadequacy sinking into his skin like burning acid. he lets his anger overtake whatever is left of his emotional control from dongpyo’s scathing words.

“better than constantly latching onto seungwoo hyung everyday like some goddamn parasite,” minhee snaps back without thinking. 

dongpyo flinches and minhee’s anger instantly leaves his system as quickly as it arrives, and - _ah fuck -_ he can already feel the regret settling in.

the expression on dongpyo’s face is...unexpected, to say the least. the smaller boy looks genuinely stunned. and a little... _hurt_? 

his expression changes quickly to confusion after hearing the way minhee addressed seungwoo.

“wait. d-did you just call professor han seungwoo hyu -”

“gentlemen, are we doing good back there?” biology professor eric nam singsongs good-naturedly, and both minhee and dongpyo’s cheeks darken at the fact that they just got called out by one of the nicest professors on campus, “because i’d really hate to send two of my best students out for being noisy. it looks bad on the record, you see.”

“sorry sir,” minhee and dongpyo apologize meekly, and the professor nods, accepting their apology before resuming the lecture. 

if the room was cold before, it was positively _frigid_ now. while dongpyo was no longer shooting minhee hostile looks or making his snarky little comments, he was clearly affected and a little cowed by the psych major’s jibe from earlier. minhee grips his pen and tells himself not to feel bad about it, _dongpyo deserves it. that little shit. what is his fucking deal with me even -_

minhee should feel like he just won the battle or whatever, but all he can think about is the guilt forming in the pit of his stomach when the professor dismisses the class and dongpyo practically books it out of his seat. minhee spots little tear tracks forming in the corner of the smaller boy’s eyes as the latter runs out of the lecture hall, and minhee feels like the biggest piece of shit in the world. 

forget dongpyo’s stupid little shitstain remarks. minhee had _hurt_ him, and it was the first time in his entire life had minhee actually gone that far to hurt someone to the point of _driving them to tears_.

he can’t even bring himself to study after class, feeling too much like shit to even bother hiding out in the library - his body too numb from the thought of actually making dongpyo _cry_ \- that he practically drags himself back to his dorm room in a zombie-like stupor. he barely registers someone calling out his name before feeling pressure on his shoulder and the familiar, sharp scent of honey lemon invading his senses.

_hyeongjun_.

“hey, minhee!” minhee shuts his eyes and tries not to react to the cheerful, satoori-heavy sound of hyeongjun’s voice, “i’m so glad i ran into you. i wanted to ask about tomorrow. are you allergic to anything, because - _oh_.” 

yeah, _oh_. minhee unlocks his door and glances at the poodle-haired boy’s hand on his shoulder. hyeongjun must’ve seen minhee’s face, because he looks absolutely _crestfallen_ and minhee feels ten times worse than he already is for being the one responsible for putting that kind of expression on the pretty boy’s face.

“minhee, what’s wrong? you look awful,” hyeongjun whispers, and carefully tiptoes to cup minhee’s cheeks in his tiny, soft hands, tilting his face to the side to inspect the tired rings around minhee’s eyes and the paleness of his skin. if this was any day, _any other day_ that wasn’t _today_ , minhee’s heart would be racing at 600bpm. but even now, with _hyeongjun_ of all people standing barely inches away from him, touching him, he just feels... _dead_. 

“it’s nothing,” minhee replies, and his voice is just so dull and empty and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that minhee was _absolutely not fucking okay_ , “just a bad day, i guess.” 

hyeongjun stares at minhee mindfully, and tiptoes back down. minhee can feel the warmth of hyeongjun’s fingertips lingering on his cheeks. it’s nice.

“no you’re not, minhee,” hyeongjun says carefully, “you don’t look fine at all. would you like some company? i can bring snacks over and we can sit on the couch and pretend like i already know everything and do things to distract you.” 

minhee pauses opening the door, inhaling sharply.

he shouldn’t give in. shouldn’t accept this. he doesn’t _deserve_ this, he doesn’t deserve hyeongjun’s kindness, especially after what he said to dongpyo - hyeongjun’s _friend_. hyeongjun will probably never talk to him again once he finds out about what he said to the sharp-tongued boy. 

that doesn’t stop him from uttering a tiny “okay”. and the smile on hyeongjun‘s face? _worth the world and more._

  
  


* * *

and that’s exactly what they do.

minhee barely has time to set down his bag down before hyeongjun barges in, guns blazing, arms filled with an arsenal of snacks: chocopie, pocky, chips, coke and a whole other variety of extremely unhealthy sadness food. he dumps them all on the coffee table right in front of minhee. 

it’s kinda funny how satisfied hyeongjun looks. his hands on his hips, smug grin, clearly enjoying the stunned expression on minhee’s face at the sight of all the junk food on his table.

“.... _wow_ ,” minhee deadpans, “and you call me out for eating ramyeon everyday?” 

minhee dodges the playful smack that comes his way and smirks when hyeongjun plops down inelegantly next to him, pouting. 

“i bring snacks into your home, and all i get is slander,” hyeongjun sighs dramatically, covering his face, mock sobbing, “you wound me, miniyah.” 

“i said nothing of the sort. you merely assumed the worst out of my implication. thus, it is not considered slander,” minhee explains innocently, making hyeongjun remove his hands from his face to glare at him.

“you law majors are insufferable.”

“i’m a psych major.”

hyeongjun waves at him dismissively. “same thing. both are insufferable.” 

minhee laughs, genuinely forgetting that he’s supposed to be avoiding hyeongjun in the first place and reaches over to grab the entire chocopie box from the pile of junk food. he rips it open and immediately starts inhaling the entire damn box like it was water. man, he hasn’t had junk food in _ages_. 

“miniyah, don’t hug all the chocopie!” hyeongjun whines, aghast as minhee continues to nom one pie after another like a robot, and the smaller boy attempts to grab the box out of the taller boy’s possession, to no avail. all minhee simply has to do is wave the box above his head (like the annoying shit he is) and enjoy the look of frustration on hyeongjun’s face as he’s practically _crawling_ over minhee to grab the box out of his - 

_wait -_

before minhee can even process what’s happening, hyeongjun drops himself right smack onto minhee’s lap and snatches the box right out of the giant’s grip in a momentary lapse of attention. 

“gotcha~!” hyeongjun cheers, and then squeaks as his foot slides off the couch and his entire body topples off-balance. minhee reflexively grabs onto the smaller boy’s legs and hauls him back onto his lap, a little “ _oof_ ” escaping hyeongjun as his chest bumps against minhee’s. minhee has a brief moment of gay panic when hyeongjun instinctively locks his arms around minhee, pressing his face into the crook of the taller boy’s neck in the heat of the moment.

_ohlordpleasedon’tlistentomyheartbeatiswearit’sbeatingfasterthanwhenseungwoohyungproposedtowooseokhyung -_

minhee tries not to think too much about how close they are, how smooth hyeongjun’s bare thighs feel in his hands, or how his hands just so _easily_ engulfs them without any effort. _soft thighs squish,_ minhee’s muddled brain supplies. he needs to teach his brain how shut the fuck up.

“oops, sorry minhee,” hyeongjun giggles softly, and he’s warm, _so warm_ , his weight feeling so oddly _right_ in minhee’s lap, his honey lemon body scent permeating stronger than ever, “here, as an apology.” 

hyeongjun rips the wrapper off a chocopie and presses the chocolatey, chewy treat against minhee’s lips. heart pounding in his ears, minhee opens his mouth and instantly inhales the entire pie whole, the embarrassed flush on his cheeks prominent as he chews, maintaining vivid eye contact with a cheeky hyeongjun.

“you’re gonna get fat if you eat that many chocopies,” hyeongjun teases, bopping minhee’s nose with the tip of his pointer finger, chuckling. minhee hums, slowly loosening his iron grip around hyeongjun’s legs, eyebrows raised at the pretty sophomore’s overly giddy behavior. 

“are you drunk?” minhee wonders aloud. 

hyeongjun sniffs. “no, but i wish.” 

somehow, the thought of _hyeongjun_ and _alcohol_ together didn't sit too well with minhee. it was like seungwoo and _not_ adopting lonely, damaged affection-starved children as his own, or seongmin with jump scares, or minhee with sports (they were bad for his health). 

“what’s got you in such a good mood then?” minhee cries internally when hyeongjun precariously gets off of minhee’s lap (he was just starting to get comfortable!), humming gleefully as he flops just right against minhee’s side, his slender, SNSD-worthy legs slung casually over minhee’s thighs. he playfully kicks his little legs in the air before whining at minhee to get him some pocky. 

_baby behavior_ , minhee laments, exchanging the box of chocopie for some strawberry pocky. 

hyeongjun cackles, and brings a finger up to his lips, like he’s about to tell the taller boy a giant corporate secret. minhee raises an eyebrow. 

“i got the part,” hyeongjun stage whispers.

minhee finds himself grinning dopily at this despite the fact that he has no fucking clue what hyeongjun is talking about.

“the part?” 

“in this year’s dance production,” hyeongjun giggles, picking out a piece of pocky and nibbling on the strawberry coating. minhee tries to look at anywhere but the boy’s glossy, cherry-pink lips biting around the biscuit stick. no reason, really. minhee just thinks hyeongjun’s eyes were much more attractive. _totally_ not because of how tempting and kissable hyeongjun’s pretty pouty lips looked - 

nope. nope. nope. only soft hyeongjun stans under _his_ roof. 

_(he really needs to stop looking at twitter. damn allen hyung for introducing him to stan twitter.)_

“oh, what part?” 

hyeongjun fishes another pocky stick out of the packet and starts sucking on the coating contemplatively. minhee swallows and looks up to the ceiling and prays to heaven to give him _strength_. 

“i got one of the lead roles,” hyeongjun whispers conspiratorially, and minhee finds himself leaning closer in curiosity. 

“there’s three leading roles. the husband, the wife, and the child. i got the role of the wife,” hyeongjun squeaks, and his body is positively _vibrating_ in excitement. minhee grins at hyeongjun’s enthusiasm and pats the smaller boy’s head carefully, hoping he’s not crossing any physical boundaries, “i was really surprised too! i was sure yoojung noona or chaeyeon noona were going to get the role because they’re amazing, but the committee agreed that my figure and dancing style would be more appropriate for the role of the wife.” 

“aigo, good job,” minhee congratulates awkwardly. hyeongjun puffs his cheeks out with pride at that and minhee wants to _scream_ in cute. 

“...but really, the wife? not the husband?” 

“it’s 2019, minhee. gays exist,” hyeongjun pouts, but the pout melts instantly at the sensation of gentle, long fingers brushing through his curly, messy hair, “pet me more please. i deserve it.”

“yeah yeah you big baby,” the word slips out of minhee’s mouth before he can stop it, and in a panic, adds mistakenly, “wait, you’re gay?” 

hyeongjun immediately stiffens under him, and minhee knows he’s hit the nail on the head.

“minhee...i literally told you days ago that wonjin hyung broke up with me. but yeah...i’m gay. is there a problem with that?” hyeongjun’s voice shrinks, tiny and insecure. minhee feels the guilt settling back in again. maybe he’s prying a little bit too early on a topic like this. 

“n-no,” minhee backtracks, “i-i’m gay too. i j-just forgot about it. s-sorry.” 

“oh, i see,” hyeongjun’s tone is...curious. he doesn’t sound relieved or nonchalant, but there’s an underlying sentiment of contemplation somewhere in there, minhee considers quietly. 

“a-anyway, i’m in the center position for at least three choreos!” hyeongjun continues, his infectious cheer and enthusiasm returning, “seungyoun hyung hasn’t finalised the script yet, but he promises mine will have the most emotional stage. hangyul hyung’s salty because all he has is hip hop and jazz numbers and just one duet.” 

“oh? hangyul-ssi is in it too?”

“yeah, he’s the husband, and you really should call him hyung, y’know. he gets weird when people call him that,” hyeongjun chuckles, finishing off the pocky, hand already reaching out for the honey butter chips, which minhee tosses onto his lap without complaint. 

minhee wants to be excited for hangyul too, except he’s feeling a little something called _jealousy_ at the thought of how nicely hangyul’s physique would look next to hyeongjun’s. hangyul’s powerful masculinity against hyeongjun’s elegant femininity. 

_no wonder they were chosen for the parts_ , minhee wonders. he’s seen hangyul dance, and he’d be lying if he says hangyul popping doesn’t make him feel a tiny bit more gayer than he usually is. 

“it’s a huge production this time round, so there’s a pretty big budget for this,” hyeongjun does a little dance on the couch in his excitement, and minhee doesn’t hesitate to place his hand on the smaller boy’s hip so he doesn’t accidentally bounce off the couch, “allen and serim hyung are in charge of the choreo, and our alumni zico-sunbaenim is helping seungyoun hyung out on the production side of things. practice and rehearsals are going to be really intensive, so i doubt i’m going to be conscious for lectures most of the time.” 

“you’ll probably still be sleeping in lectures regardless whether there’s a production or not,” minhee retorts, and then seizes up at the slip. he doesn't want hyeongjun catching on to the fact that they share a class together. not yet, anyway. he’d question why minhee didn’t approach him or say hi and minhee does _not_ have the appropriate answer for that in the slightest.

“and how would you know?” hyeongjun grumbles, and minhee lets out a relieved sigh, _phew_. 

“just a feeling,” minhee smiles knowingly. hyeongjun simply glares at him in suspicion, eyebrows pinching together. 

“hmm...keep your secrets, kang minhee, i’ll find out sooner or later,” hyeongjun tsks, “anyway, mock me all you want, but i’ll be slaying in my wifey role while my ass sleeps through every poli sci class this semester and not regretting a _single bit of it_.”

“i still think you’re a better fit for the role of the child,” minhee comments off-handedly, and this time he fails to dodge the incoming blow as hyeongjun lets out a cry of indignation and decks the psych major in the face with a couch cushion. 

“slander! i bring you food, and you _slander_ me,” hyeongjun huffs, grabbing onto the cushion and gently pressing it against minhee’s face, and minhee just _snorts_ , “suffocate, you _twig_.” 

“coming from _you_ of all people?” minhee gawks, appalled. and in less than a second they’re both off the couch, armed with cushions, and minhee barely has time to think before hyeongjun nails him dead-on on the back of his head.

“that’s foul play!” minhee gasps, and hyeongjun sniggers evilly as he dodges minhee’s cushion and heads straight for the pillows on minhee’s bed. 

“all’s fair in love and war miniyah~ and you have longer legs than me anyway so you have an advantage - ”

“coming from the midget - whoa whoa those are **_my_ ** _bed pillows!”_

“oh you are _so_ paying for that - ”

the two childish teens end up wasting the next half an hour in an intense impromptu pillow fight, laughing and screeching like hyenas (minhee is _definitely_ getting noise complaints for this) while flinging barrage after barrage of pillows at each other. minhee has to cry mercy when hyeongjun practically dog tackles him on the bed and starts tickling the taller boy’s sides.

_this is kinda fun_ , minhee muses as he doubles over in hysterics, before gaining some coherence of thought and immediately pushing the other boy off of him, who squeals and runs away, _being with hyeongjun...laughing with him…_

minhee immediately stops thinking when hyeongjun sends a pillow flying across the room in his direction, his laughing face flushed with exhilaration, pretty gems for eyes disappearing into crescents, and minhee hopes - he _hopes_ \- this moment lasts forever and ever even in his dreams. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little bit disappointed bc this chap read a lot better on the first like 32 reads and now on the 33rd it just feels slow and yea dongpyo’s a bit of an ass in this chapter, but don’t worry guys he has a reason for being such an ass (well kinda). also for reference:
> 
> sophomores: minhee, hyeongjun, junho, eunsang, dongpyo (02 line in general)  
> juniors: serim, allen, woobin, hangyul, yohan, wonjin (he has some sophomore classes bc he keeps switching majors smh wonjin)  
> seniors: seungyoun, wooseok (if he had went to uni. i aged everyone up so seniors are 22-23 y/o)
> 
>   
> i wanted taeyoung, dohyon and seongmin to be freshmen but i’m bad at managing this many characters so oop also seongmin’s character would have too much conflict with the plot which i am NOT HAVING for this fic (sequel anyone? hohoho) btw i’m bullshitting all this college nonsense bc we don’t have colleges where i’m from 🤡


	3. kang minhee is terrified of short people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> minhee has a rollercoaster of an evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiiiii i’m sorry for taking centuries to upload. am kinda sad that this chapter isn’t really up to snuff but i felt bad leaving y’all waiting for so long. literally had three fucking drafts for this because I had so many ideas on the direction of the plot so i kept redoing it LMAOOO.

it’s almost 11PM when hyeongjun and minhee decide to take a break. 

after passing out on the floor from their duel, panting - hyeongjun’s head casually lying on minhee’s chest, minhee’s fingers lazily playing with hyeongjun’s sweaty locks — they decide to watch something random off of netflix so they have an excuse to consume all of hyeongjun’s snacks in one sitting. which spurs them into _another_ passionate argument about — 

“seriously? _riverdale_? out of all the shows on netflix, _riverdale_ is your favorite?” 

hyeongjun whines and shoves at minhee playfully, the latter genuinely stunned at the thought of someone unironically saying they like riverdale. both him and seungwoo have been addicted to crime shows since they started sharing the family netflix account, and minhee has lost count of the amount of times the criminology professor roasted the entirety of riverdale post-season one whenever it’s brought up in a conversation. 

_(“why is archie taking his shirt off every time he breathes? why do NONE of these kids ever study? they did_ **_not_ ** _do heathers dirty like that what the fuck WHY IS BETTY POLE DANCING IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE MEN SHE’S 16 THIS SHOW IS RUINING MY CHILDHOOD —” “...hyung, i think it’s time to take a break.”)_

“first you slander me, and now you judge my taste in shows? i bet you like those boring legal shows where 80% of the scenes are just dialogue.” 

“suits is _amazing_ and it is _not_ 80% dialogue -”

“let me guess, your favorite show is sherlock. or criminal minds. or _both_.”

“...they’re amongst my favorites, yes.” 

“mmhmm, you’re such a mystery junkie, minhee-ah. i bet you’re one of those people who actually keep up to date with detective conan.”

“...”

“wait are you _kidding_ me that series is over a thousand chapters long HOW -”

“i like guessing the killer before conan does, okay!” minhee pulls a face at the poodle-haired boy, who just snorts.

“you are _such_ a nerd. oh my god minhee, i’m friends with a _nerd_ ,” hyeongjun mock cries into his hands, and minhee wants to pinch his squishy little cheeks for being so adorably _irritating_ , “i’ll only forgive you because you said stranger things is a good show. but that’s it. _that’s it_.”

“oh my, i am so touched by your forgiveness, your honor.” minhee raises his hand in a mock salute, and hyeongjun blindly decks him with a cushion. 

“you need a redemption arc, miniyah. tell me what’s your favorite black mirror episode —”

“the fuck is a black mirror?” minhee demands, and the horrified look on hyeongjun’s face has him _reeling_. 

“YOU’VE NEVER WATCHED BLACK MIRROR? _YOU?”_ hyeongjun gawks, “mr. i’m so edgy i only watch shows with death and murder and sadness -”

minhee holds his hands up defensively, “what? i’m a psych major. i don’t have _that_ much time to watch everything off of netflix!” 

hyeongjun doesn’t even bother to dignify him with a response and instantly scooches over to go through minhee’s netflix in desperate search for said show. 

the two of them were currently relaxing on minhee’s bed, surrounded by leftover snacks and drinks and an abundance of pillows stolen off the floor. laptop placed on minhee’s lap, hyeongjun tucked carefully at his side, his fluffy little head resting on minhee’s shoulder as he’s scrolling through netflix selections on the psych major’s laptop. it’s domestic, minhee swoons, and he has to will his heart to calm the fuck down because even when sweaty and disgusting hyeongjun still manages to look like angel wrapped in minhee’s comforter, determined, puppy-like gaze indignant under the harsh light of the LCD screen and bangs flopping messily over his eyes. 

minhee wants, _wants_ to just wrap his arms around hyeongjun’s petite little waist and bring him just _a little_ bit closer to him. but it’s fine, he’s not greedy. hyeongjun was basically all pressed up against him anyway, looking beautiful and adorable and irresistible and — 

“found it!” hyeongjun cheers, and immediately moves back to his original position, and minhee wants to cry, except now hyeongjun’s arms are linked around minhee’s as he’s presses a soft cheek against the taller boy’s shoulder and minhee is fucking _dead_. _DECEASED._

“so, what’s the show about?” minhee asks as hyeongjun pulls him a little closer so hyeongjun can rest his head on his shoulder and minhee’s heart speeds up by the thousands. his tiny body was so warm and soft and cuddable - 

“the president fucks a pig.”

“wait what -”

* * *

so.

maybe watching black mirror was a mistake. 

minhee’s slightly traumatized when they finish the first episode of season one. and he really should’ve stopped there except hyeongjun keeps giggling and teasing minhee for his wide-eyed reactions and minhee will sit through every type of hardcore gore and porn in the world just to hear those obnoxiously adorable giggles next to his ear all the time —

_minhee prays that hyeongjun’s not into that. but you get the point._

the second and third episodes are amazing though — in minhee’s opinion — and has left him in a contemplative state up until the credits roll for the third episode, and he’s _still_ having a mid-life crisis at the ending of the second episode (and also maybe feeling a tiny bit depressed). hyeongjun has to yawn and stretch his arms over his head — revealing a tiny sliver of cute tummy fat when his shirt rides up — for minhee to snap out of his mid-life crisis to rub hyeongjun’s back comfortingly as the smaller boy yawns. 

“minhee-ah, i’m hungry,” hyeongjun whines prettily (fuck, how does someone _do_ that. seongmin does it to him all the time and no matter how cute he is minhee _still_ finds it a little annoying.) the dance major looks up to minhee with those big brown puppy dog eyes of his and tilts his head cutely to the side and minhee will do everything short of murder with just that one look alone.

“hi hungry, i’m minhee,” minhee deflects perfectly, and hyeongjun whacks his arm again. 

“of _course_ you’re not hungry, you ate everything!” hyeongjun gestures wildly at the empty packets of junk food surrounding them like some deformed prayer circle. 

“um, you mean _you_ ate everything?” minhee discreetly pushes the packets of butter and graham cookies behind his back and hopes hyeongjun doesn’t notice his shameless snack hoarding. because man, hyeongjun is so tiny but boy can he _eat._ minhee suspects he’s one of those “subconscious eaters” that don’t even notice that they’ve devoured half the house and several supermarkets down the street. 

“i’ve got ramyeon in my room.” hyeongjun’s eyes glitter even in the darkness of the night, and minhee can faintly see the stars in them, “you like the cheese ones right? let’s go make some!”

“what was that lecture about me not eating properly?” minhee jokes and hyeongjun whines and _nuzzles_ into minhee’s shoulder to stop teasing and fuck, why was hyeongjun so _touchy_ all the time? did he know how bad it was for minhee’s heart? 

“that’s different! it’s 1AM, and we can’t cook or people will complain,” hyeongjun pouts, and he _looks_ at minhee with those eyes again and tugs onto the sleeve of minhee’s hoodie, lips drawn into a pout that minhee thinks he’s going to become familiarly acquainted with very soon, “pretty please, _miniyah_?” 

minhee gulps.

* * *

minhee is a weak man. 

truly, truly a weak man, his brain taunts. 

but his heart is telling his brain, fuck you, i’m eating with the cutest boy in the world at 1AM so _take that_! minhee yawns as he makes his way to the communal kitchen to prepare hot water while hyeongjun’s rummaging around his room for ramyeon. it’s kind of exciting, minhee thinks - as he shivers at the sudden draft entering the halls - not just at the idea of hanging out with hyeongjun, but hanging out with him this late into the night eating ramyeon and maybe talking about feelings and watching the next season of black mirror. it feels like he’s committing a crime, doing non-study and non-introvert things late into the night, with the accompaniment of a literal human angel next to him. minhee wonders what good deeds he’s done in his past life to deserve this.

not good enough, apparently. 

because just as he’s blinking away the sudden harshness of the kitchen lights, maneuvering carefully around the kitchen island, his heart and brain instantly stops functioning when he’s come face to face with a sleepy-looking son dongpyo clad in penguin pajamas _also_ boiling water for his instant noodles.

they seem to have some cursed connection, because just as minhee catches sight of dongpyo, dongpyo spins around and freezes as he catches sight of minhee. 

_this_ is _significantly_ the less romantic version of a meet cute, minhee internally panics, and he notices how swollen the smaller boy’s eyes look, his lips bitten raw and red and what seemed like dried tear tracks on his puffy little cheeks. the kid looks like he’s been through the ringer and back and minhee really, _really_ doesn’t want to feel guilty about this but the guilt returns from this afternoon returns in full force and hits him straight in the gut like a bulldozer on a freeway. 

“hey, look i —” dongpyo cuts him off with the raise of his hand.

“d-don’t. don’t. don’t even start,” the smaller boy’s voice is shaky as he trembles with his words. minhee waits patiently as dongpyo heaves a long, shaky sigh, before looking up to stare minhee dead in the eye and mutter, “i’m sorry.”

minhee blinks once. then blinks twice. 

“okay.” 

dongpyo’s frown deepens.

“i’m sorry for saying that shit to you earlier today. it was completely unsolicited and unwarranted, not to mention very irrational,” dongpyo shuts his eyes for a moment before resuming his little apology, “i also apologise for what i said about you and hyeongjun. i actually don’t know what he thinks about you. and i don’t really care.”

_mmm. sounds fake but okay._

the psych major blinks for the third time, really slowly. dongpyo’s furiously rubbing his eyes with his pajama sleeve, and minhee...doesn’t really feel much of anything. the last thing he’s expecting on this rollercoaster of a day is an apology literally coming from the mouth of the one person he's sure hates his guts - and minhee is 99% sure that dongpyo _still_ hates him even as he’s apologizing. 

this kind of feels anti-climax, minhee laments.

“but i will not fucking forgive you for playing with jjunie’s heart like that, you piece of shit.”

hold up. 

_HOLD UP._

_W A I T._

W H A T. 

minhee shakes his head in bewilderment.

**_WHAT._ **

“i won’t spread anything out of respect, but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop leading hyeongjun on. now i didn’t peg professor han to be the type to be playing around with his students, but i guess —” dongpyo gives a little muffled shriek as minhee practically _lunges_ at the younger boy and clamps his mouth shut with his hand.

“i’m sorry, but what the fuck,” minhee hisses, “ _what in the fuck are you insinuating?”_

being told that him, _kang minhee_ , of all people, was “leading hyeongjun on” was an _insult_. being told that his, _his seungwoo hyung,_ was fucking around with a _student,_ was literally fucking _slander_. 

dongpyo shoves minhee away roughly and minhee doesn’t even care when his hip slams the corner of the kitchen island and the entire tray of spices rattle loudly against the metal.

“you know what the fuck i mean!” dongpyo hisses back, “why else would you be calling professor han _hyung_ , o-or even knowing a-about me a-and him, and knowing —”

“okay, hold up. pause.” minhee raises his hand to cut dongpyo off, while using the other to pinch the bridge of his nose. he swears he has a headache coming on. “i think. that you are gravely misunderstanding my situation.”

“what? that you’re fucking with seungwoo hyung while playing around with hyeongjunnie?” dongpyo demands angrily, and minhee _shushes_ him because fuck why is he so tiny but his voice so goddamn _loud_? him and seongmin would be great friends — 

okay back to the problem here.

“you called seungwoo hyung, hyung too,” minhee points out his slip, and that’s when dongpyo _explodes_.

“well, why can’t i? h-he _is_ like a hyung to me! he-he actually listens to me a-a-and gives me advice and we’ve hung out together during school b-break and we —” wow, red is a very fitting color on dongpyo, minhee thinks wryly, as the smaller kid rambles while attempting to look intimidating by squaring his shoulders. but against a whole ass 187cm kang minhee? not a chance in hell.

“well, maybe i’m calling him hyung, because he is _literally my hyung_ ,” minhee deadpans, “he’s my brother-in-law, you fucking dumbass.” 

dongpyo’s shoulders go lax, and his furious expression schools into a face of pure disbelief.

“ _excuse me?_ ”

“well, it isn’t official. but yeah, seungwoo hyung and wooseok hyung are fucking, they’re now happily engaged, and i’m his soon-to-be brother-in-law,” minhee states matter-of-factly, “and i am _not_ happy that you made me use fucking and my hyungs in the same sentence.”

“you didn’t have to, you could've just said they were engaged and go,” dongpyo snarks back, before realization dawns on him and he hides his face behind his hands, “oh my god.”

“yeah.”

“no. you. _shut up_.” 

“mmhmm.”

“ _oh my_ _fucking god._ ”

“i seriously can’t believe you thought me and hyung were f —”

“i just insulted seungwoo hyung’s brother-in-law, i am the _worst_ best man ever.” minhee snaps his head at dongpyo at that remark. 

“excuse me, don’t you mean _me_?” 

dongpyo huffs and removes his hands, his typical iconic resting bitch face returning without mercy.

“don’t be silly, you can be your brother’s best man,” dongpyo sniffs curtly.

“but my brother’s best man is jinhyuk —”

“hmm, _tragic_.” 

minhee suddenly remembers why he doesn’t like this kid again. 

at that moment, he recalls the scathing words he said back in the lecture, and a heavy weight settles in the pit of his stomach. he may not know the full story of how dongpyo and seungwoo were so close, but after hearing dongpyo’s little confession, he kind of gets the gist of it.

“hey, son-ssi —” 

“just call me dongpyo at this point, we’re gonna be seeing each other at the wedding anyway i don’t care —”

“yeah okay, dongpyo, i’m sorry too,” minhee gulps slowly, looking down to meet the succinct glare of son dongpyo, who is _definitely_ giving off “bad cop” vibes now with his intensified bitch stare and eyebrow raise, “the stuff i said about you and seungwoo hyung earlier? yeah, all lies. i got angry and it got the better of me.”

minhee bites his lip and wonders if he’s _seriously_ doing this kid a favor after all the shit he’s said.

“seungwoo hyung...really does care for you a lot. so. don’t worry about it.”

silence befalls them, and dongpyo looks away. minhee suspects he’s crying again, except there’s a tiny little relieved smile growing on the smaller boy’s face. it’s hidden by the shadows of his bangs, but it’s definitely there. 

“of course he does, look at me, i’m _lovable_ ,” dongpyo sniffs, “i never doubted his love for a second.”

_liar_ , minhee thinks semi-fondly, and then retracts that statement. no way in hell will he ever consider _son dongpyo_ as someone he’s _ever_ going to think even remotely nicely of. _never_. 

now that they’re both here though, that _still_ begs the question of — 

“what is your deal with me and hyeongjun anyway?” minhee inquires seriously, “and don’t give me that ‘i don’t know what you mean’ bullshit your hostility back then had to come out of _somewhere_.”

a beat passes, and the room temperature _plummets_. 

a shiver runs up minhee’s spine when a menacing, shark-like smirk crosses dongpyo’s expression, and his sharp gaze immediately turns steely. minhee backs up as dongpyo stalks towards him, like a predator towards its prey. he doesn’t realise he’s completely backed up himself up against the kitchen island when dongpyo presses forward, smirk turning a little spicy-sweet, hands held innocently behind his back, chin upturned cockily.

“because my cute little hyeongjunnie is my bestest friend in the world,” dongpyo singsongs in that sweet, mildly chilling way of his, “and i’d rather be dead than to give him away to someone he’s barely even known for less than six years, much less a _week_.”

dongpyo prowls forward again, and minhee holds onto the table behind him. the expression on his face is as deadpan and wide-eyed as ever, but on the inside he’s absolutely fucking _terrified_.

“and if, if _you_ , kang minhee,” dongpyo suddenly tiptoes and whispers directly into minhee’s ear, and the taller boy shudders at the sensation of dongpyo’s breath against his ear, “if you dare try anything to _our_ hyeongjunnie _without his consent —_ ”

dongpyo slowly draws a finger against his throat — a universal sign that does not need to be explained, and minhee gulps.

“well...i don’t really need to explain what’s gonna happen, hmm?” 

dongpyo withdraws slowly, eyeing minhee up and down. the silence is thick, and dongpyo shoots minhee one last smile before turning his back on him so he can attend to his ramyeon. minhee’s knees buckle — not that he’s ever going to admit it — and a breath of relief rushes out of him. 

yeah.

midgets really were the spawn of satan. 

* * *

thankfully, minhee doesn’t have to be alone in dongpyo’s presence for much longer when he hears that all to familiar puppy-like patter of feet getting closer towards them and he almost doesn’t expect it when hyeongjun practically _jumps_ onto the taller boy’s back with a energetic cry of “miniyah!” and almost topples them over with his weight. 

“it took me some time but i found some cheese ramyeon! you like the tteokbokki one right? here you go — ah pyo! you’re here too!” 

and _immediately_ minhee loses that comforting warmth by his side when an all-too energetic hyeongjun _pounces_ on dongpyo and dongpyo’s chilling demeanor fucking _disintegrates_ on reflex as the small, pouty-faced boy cracks a giant smile and opens his arms wide open for hyeongjun’s embrace.

“hyeongjun-ah~ why are you doing up so late? are you eating ramyeon again? your face will get puffy you know,” dongpyo teases, hugging the poodle-haired boy close to him while discreetly giving minhee the finger behind hyeongjun’s back.

minhee swears to fuck he’s going to kill this brat one day. just you _wait_. 

“as if you’re not eating ramyeon too,” hyeongjun pouts, pulling back and poking dongpyo’s cheeks with his little forefingers and rubbing them happily, and minhee notices something a little strange. 

dongpyo’s eyes widen a little at hyeongjun’s sudden affection, and his face goes red _so fucking fast_ it reaches the tips of his ears. the expression goes as fast as it comes however — and dongpyo immediately schools his expression back to one of casual embarrassment and whines at hyeongjun to stop playing with his cheeks. 

the exchange doesn’t last very long. when dongpyo finishes making his ramyeon and tells the both of them (well, hyeongjun mostly) good night, minhee’s a little surprised when hyeongjun offers dongpyo to join them for supper and the smaller boy instantly turns him down, his small eyes subtly lingering at the way hyeongjun held onto minhee’s arm. minhee had figured that dongpyo would be the possessive best friend type to cockblock at every opportunity but...guess not? 

strange, but very much appreciated. 

soon enough the kettle starts boiling and they quickly make their ramen before carefully tiptoeing back to minhee’s dorm. not for long, they’re back into the same cuddling position again from before, hyeongjun’s fluffy little head on minhee’s shoulder, laptop on minhee’s lap, happily ingesting 3 days worth of sodium intake while watching the next season of black mirror. 

minhee’s already forgotten the encounter from beforehand - locked away in his brain to think about for another time when hyeongjun isn’t essentially lying halfway on his lap — as they cuddle a little closer than friends should be allowed to, captivated in a heartwarming, but extremely depressing episode of black mirror.

the hours tick by slowly as minhee’s eyelids slowly get heavier and heavier, the weight of the day’s events finally getting to him. he barely processes it when his head slumps down on to the pillow naturally, his body giving out on him. he hears a little coo of “shh, it’s okay, just sleep” as familiar, soft fingers slowly thread through his hair again, giving him soothing, gentle caresses as he gives in to the sensation and shuts his eyes close — and his mind _drifts_.

that night, he dreams about pretty boys and their magical headpats, and their deep, thickly satoori giggles. 

* * *

minhee jerks awake to the rude awakening of something heavy and metal crashing onto the floor and a loud “shit!” that snaps him out of his dreamy haze. 

the first thing he notices is the lack of a familiar, petite body next to him, which — while unfortunate — explains the frantic flurry of panicked footsteps and sudden activity in his kitchen. and while he himself isn’t too fond of noise, he can’t help but think about how oddly reassuring it is to hear the presence of living humans existing in his formerly two-person dorm room. 

the second thing he notices is the burning smell. 

“hyeongjunnie? are you okay?” minhee drawls sleepily, arms stretching over his head like a disgruntled cat. he props himself onto one elbow and slowly rubs the tiredness out of his eyes. it had been a long evening, after all. 

“what’s going on?”

“n-nothing!” hyeongjun squeaks out. 

_god, that’s the cutest fucking sound in the world._

“i smell something burning,” minhee mutters sleepily, still little exhausted from last night, “if you’re planning on committing insurance fraud, arson really is the way to go. might as well get some money out of it if you’re going to sacrifice my body to the flames in the process.” 

he hears more metal clatter to the floor and a loud guffaw and a splutter of indignation from behind the counter. 

“oh my good minhee, you’re _hysterical,”_ the mysterious intruder giggles. minhee warily watches on as the bane of his existence ham wonjin grabs onto the kitchen counter to haul himself over, cheeks bright and tears in his eyes. and was it just him or was wonjin’s hair _pastel fucking pink?_

i must be dreaming, minhee muses, deeming it proper to get his sorry ass out of bed. he ignores the adorable squeak from behind the counter as he groggily approaches the duo to see the damage done. 

there are several things he notices. 

first, there was a burnt pan lying on the floor, and the smoke was thick and heady enough to make minhee worry about smoke alarms. second was the questionable red stain next to it (whether it was blood or ketchup, minhee wasn’t fully ready to find out). he also notices an array of kitchen utensils he’s never seen before in his kitchen — rules did state that students weren’t allowed to bring in anything to the dorms that could spontaneously set itself on fire — such as a microwave, a portable stove, and...a crock pot? 

but all of those things he ignores without missing a beat. not because hyeongjun was cowering on the floor holding a plate of burnt eggs, looking up at him with the most _devastating_ set of puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen in his life, but —

“why are there several fire hazards on my kitchen counter.” minhee diverts his embarrassing monologue away from hyeongjun to an amused wonjin, said hyung casually leaning against the counter like he didn’t just try to set minhee’s dorm on fire a mere five seconds ago. 

“you mean the microwave? or the stove?” 

“no, i meant the annoying couple three dorms down that don’t understand the concept of privacy and public decency and constantly having sexual intercourse on the daily as if abstinence wasn’t a thing — _no shit_ i meant the microwave and the stove,” minhee snaps tiredly, not ready to deal with this shit so early in the morning. especially how he had fantasized earlier about waking up next to hyeongjun and being blessed by his chubby cheeks and sleepy pout as he’d gently shake hyeongjun awake while combing through his curly messy bedhead —

~~_haha calm down kang minhee your delulu is showing —_ ~~

_— not_ to be cockblocked by his _infuriatingly_ handsome and hard to hate ex-boyfriend. 

why was he even here?

“jjunie here,” wonjin gestures to the awkward boy, still holding his poor burnt eggs in his hands, face downcast, imitating a kicked puppy, “wanted to make you the most _adorable_ breakfast ever despite the fact that he can’t cook for shit —”

“hyung, shut _up,”_ hyeongjun hissed, eyes wide in panic, the elder ignoring the younger’s protest as wonjin carefully kept eye contact with minhee, wrapping a casual arm around his pretty ex-boyfriend, smirking as minhee bristled at the act of physical affection.

“so he enlisted _my_ help, and being the _wonderful_ hyung that i am, brought over some amazing high-grade cooking technology to make that process easier.” wonjin puffed out his chest in pride. “i’m amazing right, minhee? tell me that i am.”

“you mean that you somehow stole the microwave and portable stove from the dorm kitchen and brought it back here to cover up your grand theft,” minhee deadpans, picking up the microwave and turning it to the side, exposing the school verification sticker on the back.

wonjin pouts, and minhee can briefly understand how easy it is to forgive this silly hyung for literally anything. 

hyeongjun sighs, bringing back the attention on him as he looks upon sadly on his burning eggs. minhee — in a moment of unexpected chivalry — sets the microwave down and reaches over to pat the smaller boy’s head. his heart seizes at the little bop of hyeongjun’s head as minhee continues patting him, and tells himself he’s just imagining things when hyeongjun subconsciously nuzzles into his palm.

_puppy behavior..._

“i’m sorry mini-yah...i couldn’t even make scrambled eggs,” hyeongjun mutters depressingly, gesturing to the mess of his eggs in his hands, “i’ll just throw them away —”

and kang minhee — the fucking ballsy king he is — snatches the sad pile of eggs from hyeongjun’s hands and _downs_ it like it’s beer (not as if he’s had any). 

hyeongjun gapes at him, frozen in place, as minhee painstakingly swallows every morsel of egg down his gullet. 

meanwhile wonjin just stares at the taller boy in awe, jaw dropped, impressed and lowkey horrified at the same time. 

in any other news minhee is fucking dying because the eggs were salty and bitter and completely charred and it felt like he was eating literal sodium. but the look of glittery, wide-eyed adoration and tearful pout on hyeongjun’s face? _worth every bite_.

man, he is way too whipped for the kid. 

“oh my god minhee stop!” hyeongjun splutters, reaching out to snatch the plate out of minhee’s hands but minhee moves it away from hyeongjun’s reach as he swallows the last bite of “breakfast” like the madman he is.

“what? you shouldn’t waste food,” minhee smiles, showing the mostly empty plate to the horrified duo, “and it’s just a little bit salty, that’s all. don’t worry. i liked it.” 

_liar_ , his rational brain tells him, _it tastes like dog shit and orphans’ tears._

wonjin slowly claps, slowly and carefully walking towards minhee as he brings a firm hand down the pysch student’s shoulder. his eyes are wide in awe and concern. minhee does _not_ have a good feeling about that look.

“minhee...you’re a true man,” wonjin whispers conspiratorially, “hyeongjun’s cooking is literally inedible. it’s borderline ingesting poison. the last time he made food hangyul hyung was throwing up for over an hour. godspeed to you, kang minhee. godspeed.”

minhee’s stomach churns loudly and he starts to feel a little queasy. 

_well shit_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when i meant slow burn i fucking meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> comments keep me going. shout at me @jjuniechu on twitter. minisong is my religion.


End file.
